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SELECTIONS 

FROM THE POEMS OF 

THOMAS GRAY 






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EDITED BY A. M. VAN DYKE, M.A. 

DEPAPTMENT OF ENGLISH. CINCINNATI HIGH SCHOOL 




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AMERICAN • BOOK • COMPANY 
NEW YORK- CINCINNATI • CHICAGO 



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ECLECTIC ENGLISH CLASSICS 



SELECTIONS 

FROM THE POEMS OF 

/ 
THOMAS GRAY 



EDITED BY A. M. VAN DYKE, M.A. 

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, CINCINNATI HIGH SCHOOL 







NEW YORK • : • CINCINNATI • I • CHICAGO 

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 
1898 

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2496 



Copyriglit, 1898, by 
American Book Company. 



VV. V. I 



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CONTENTS 



Introduction 

Chronological Outline of Gray's Life 

Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College 

The Progress of Poesy 

The Bard 

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard 
Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat 

The Fatal Sisters 

Ode on the Spring 

Hymn to Adversity 

Ode on the Pleasure Arising from Vicissitude 

The Descent of Odin 

The Alliance of Education and Government 
Stanzas to Mr. Richard Bentley 
Sonnet on the Death of Richard West . 
Sketch of his Own Character . 



PAGE 

7 

17 
19 
24 

32 
41 
49 
53 
57 
60 

63 
66 

71 

76 

78 
80 



INTRODUCTION. 



Thomas Gray was born in Cornhill, London, December 26, 
1 7 16. His father, Philip Gray, was a scrivener and broker, a 
man of violent temper and jealous disposition, with some symp- 
toms of madness. He abandoned his family, and died abroad, 
leaving but Httle of his reputed wealth. 

His mother was Dorothy Antrobus Gray, most touchingly de- 
scribed by the poet, in the inscription placed on her tombstone, 
as " the tender mother of many children, one of whom alone had 
the misfortune to survive her." The other eleven children died 
in infancy. Mrs. Gray supported her son by keeping, with her 
sister, a millinery shop in London, and it was altogether through 
her care and industry that Gray enjoyed the advantages of edu- 
cation. In 1727 he was sent to Eton College, under the auspices 
of his two uncles, Robert and Thomas Antrobus, the former of 
whom was assistant to a master of Eton, and a fellow of Peter- 
house College, and the latter a fellow of King's College, Cam- 
bridge. At Eton he met Horace Walpole, son of the prime 
minister, with whom he formed a friendship that lasted, with a 
slight interruption, while they both lived, and that was of im- 
mense advantage to the future poet. 

• 7 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

In 1734 he went to Cambridge, where for a short time he was 
a pensioner at Pembroke Hall ; but he soon went over as a fellow- 
commoner to PeterhoLise, his uncle Robert's college. In the 
following year Walpole put in an appearance at King's College. 

In September, 1738, Gray left Cambridge without taking a 
degree, but in 1743 he received from this institution the degree 
of LL.B. He lived for six months at his father's house, with no 
settled plans for the future, although he had some thoughts of 
studying law. 

Fortunately for him, in March, 1739, Walpole proposed a tour 
of the Continent, agreeing generously to pay all expenses and at 
the same time to allow Gray perfect independence of action. It 
is interesting to note that Walpole made his will before starting, 
and had he died abroad. Gray would have been his sole legatee. 
It was during this tour that Walpole and Gray quarreled, and the 
latter returned home alone after an absence of two and a half 
years. Walpole generously took all the blame for the quarrel on 
his own shoulders, and the friendship was later renewed, and 
thereafter remained uninterrupted. The sketches of his travels 
written by Gray evince his good taste and his remarkable learn- 
ing, even at this early period of his hfe. 

Shortly after Gray's return to England, his father died in em- 
barrassed circumstances, leaving him without the means of pur- 
suing his intended study of the law ; and he retired to Cambridge, 
fixing his residence at the university, where, with the exception 
of two short intervals, he continued to live during the remainder 
of his hfe. He chose Cambridge as his home partly from motives 
of economy, but mainly because of the ready access it afforded 
to books, — for he found his happiness in study. He became a 
profound scholar, versed in many fields of knowledge. Philoso- 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

phy, botany and zoology, language, history, archaeology, music, 
art, were among the studies to which he devoted himself, and in 
which he acquired no little eminence. The one subject that 
seemed entirely foreign to his tastes was mathematics. " Must I 
pore upon mathematics?" he said. "Alas! I cannot see in it 
too much hght. I am no eagle. It is very possible that two and 
two make four, but I would not give four farthings to demonstrate 
this ever so clearly." 

In 1742 he wrote his " Ode on the Spring " and the " Ode on 
a Distant Prospect of Eton College," his " Hymn to Adversity " 
and the " Sonnet on the Death of Richard West ; " and it was prob- 
ably in the same year that he began the " Elegy." He wrote little, 
partly because of his studious and contemplative disposition, 
which left him no leisure for writing, partly because he was so 
critical that he seldom could approve his own work, and partly 
because of an excessive reserve which avoided publicity of any 
kind. His extreme modesty is well illustrated in the following 
extracts from a letter written to Horace Walpole in 1768 : 

" Dodsley told me in the spring that the plates from Mr. Bent- 
ley's designs were worn out, and he wanted to have them copied 
and reduced to a smaller scale for a new edition. I dissuaded 
him from so silly an expense, and desired he would put in no orna- 
ments at all. The ' Long Story ' was to be totally omitted, as its 
only use (that of explaining the prints) was gone ; but to supply 
the place of it in bulk, lest my works should be mistaken for the 
works of a flea, I promised to send him an equal weight of poetry 
or prose ; so, since my return hither, I put up about two ounces 
of stuff, viz., ' The Fatal Sisters,' ' The Descent of Odin ' (of both 
which you have copies), a bit of something from the Welsh, and 
certain little notes. . . . This is literally all ; and with all this, 



I o IN TROD UC TION. 

I shall be but a shrimp of an author. To what you say to me so 
civilly, that I ought to write more, I reply in your own words 
(like the pamphleteer, who is going to confute you out of your 
own mouth), * What has one to do, when turned of fifty ^ but really 
to think of finishing? ' However, I will be candid (for you seem 
to be so with me), and avow to you that till fourscore and ten, 
whenever the humor takes me, I will write, because I like it, and 
because I Hke myself better when I do so. If I do not write 
much, it is because I cannot." 

The " Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," published in 
1 751, won him immediate popularity, — which occasioned no little 
surprise to himself. Four editions were exhausted in one year. 
Byron said of this poem : " Had Gray written nothing but his 
' Elegy,' high as he stands, I am not sure that he would not stand 
higher. It is the corner stone of his glory. Gray's 'Elegy 'pleased 
instandy and eternally." And the remark of General Wolfe to 
his officers, the night before his victory at Quebec, has become 
famous : " Gentlemen, I would rather be the author of that poem 
than take Quebec." 

In 1757 Gray published his Pindaric odes, "The Progress of 
Poesy ' and "The Bard," which were not received with favor. 
Gray ascribed their unpopularity to the unintelligence of his 
readers, and treated their opinions with contempt. To some 
friends who had admired these poems he wrote : " You are doing 
a very unfashionable thing, for all people of condition are agreed 
not to admire, nor even to understand. One very great man, 
writing to an acquaintance of his and mine, says that he has read 
them seven or eight times ; and that now, when next he sees him, 
he shall not have above thirty questions to ask." These " ques- 
tions " are answered for the present reader in the footnotes, many 



INTRODUCTION. 1 1 

of which were later prepared by Gray himself, under pressure of 
his friends and publishers, "just to tell the gentle reader that 
Edward I. was not Oliver Cromwell, nor Queen Elizabeth the 
witch of Endor." 

The death of Gray's mother, in 1753, was an occasion of great 
grief to him, as he was much attached to her, and repaid her with 
his love for all her sacrifices in his behalf. 

In 1757, on Colley Gibber's death, the poet-laureateship was 
offered to Gray. He declined the appointment, however, for 
reasons stated in an admirable letter to the Rev. William Mason, 
from which the following is an extract : 

" Though I very well know the bland, emoUient, saponaceous 
qualities both of sack and silver, yet if any great man would say 
to me, * I make you rat-catcher to his Majesty, with a salary of 
^300 a year, and two butts of the best Malaga; and though it 
has been usual to catch a mouse or two, for form's sake, in pub- 
lic once a year, yet to you, sir, we shall not stand upon these 
things,' I cannot say I should jump at it. Nay, if they would 
drop the very name of the office, and call me Sinecure to the 
King's Majesty, I should still feel a httle awkward, and think 
everybody I saw smelled a rat about me. But I do not pretend to 
blame any one else that has not the same sensations. For my 
part, I would rather be sergeant trumpeter or pinmaker to the 
palace. Nevertheless, I interest myself a little in the history of 
it, and rather wish somebody may accept it that will retrieve 
the credit of the thing, if it be retrievable or ever had any 
credit. . . . The office itself has always humbled the professor 
hitherto (even in an age when kings were somebody), if he were 
a poor writer by making him more conspicuous, and if he were a 
good one by setting him at war with the little fry of his own pro- 



1 2 INTROD UCTION. 

fession ; for there are poets little enough to envy even a poet 
laureate." 

The professorship of modern history at Cambridge falling 
vacant in 1762, Gray applied for the appointment, but was un- 
successful. In 1 765 he went on a tour through Scotland, descrip- 
tions of which are preserved for us in the form of many interesting 
letters to his friends. Not long after his return, in 1768, the 
professorship which Gray had coveted again fell vacant, and the 
duke of Grafton bestowed it on the poet. The honor came too 
late, however, to give him pleasure. Ill health rendered the 
duties of his office burdensome to him. He never delivered any 
lectures, and thought seriously of resigning. 

In 1 77 1 he was attacked by gout of the stomach, and died on 
the 30th of July, at the age of 55. He was buried by the side of 
his mother, at Stoke Pogis, the supposed scene of his " Elegy." 

Gray never married, and his life was singularly devoid of 
variety. His manners were, to some, " disagreeably effeminate 
and fastidious ; but he was a man of the most exact taste, the 
purest morals, and the most independent spirit." Taine calls him 
" the morose hermit," others, more appropriately, " the gentle re- 
cluse." His devotion to study emphasized a naturally serious 
disposition, though there are not wanting gleams of sunny humor, 
seen mostly in his letters. 

Gray has given us several sketches of his own character, both 
in prose and in verse. In two letters written to his friend, Rich- 
ard West, he says : 

"As I am recommending myself to your love, methinks I 
ought to send you my picture (for I am no more what I was, 
some circumstances excepted, which I hope I need not particu- 
larize to you). You must add, then, to your former idea, two 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

years of age, a reasonable quantity of dullness, a great deal of 
silence, and something that rather resembles than is thinking ; a 
confused notion of many strange and fine things that have swum 
before my eyes for some time, a want of love for general society 
— indeed, an inability to it. On the good side you may add a 
sensibility for what others feel, and indulgence for their faults and 
weaknesses, a love of truth, and detestation of everything else. 
Then you are to deduct a little impertinence, a little laughter, a 
great deal of pride, and some spirits. . . . 

*' Low spirits are my true and faithful companions ; they get 
up with me, go to bed with me, make journeys and returns as I 
do, nay, and pay visits, and will even affect to be jocose and force 
a feeble laugh with me ; but most commonly we sit alone together, 
and are the prettiest insipid company in the world." 

On a sheet of paper found in his pocketbook, and dated 1761, 
appeared the following lines : 

'' Too poor for a bride, and too proud to importune, 
He had not the method of making a fortune; ' 

Could love, and could hate, so was thought somewhat odd; 
No very great wit, he believed in a God; 
A post or a pension he did not desire. 
But left church and state to Charles Townshend and Squire." 

A resume of the influences that affected Gray's poetry will 
help us to understand much in his work that might otherwise 
perplex us. Those who write of the history of English literature 
usually divide it into three great periods — the Elizabethan, the 
classic, and the Victorian age. This, of course, does not take 
into account the time of Chaucer and his contemporaries, some- 
times called the pre- English era. 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

In the transition from one period to the succeeding one there 
seems to be an interregnum, in which the representative writers 
reflect to some extent the characteristics of their immediate pred- 
ecessors in the kingdom of letters, and at the same time fore- 
shadow the manner and style of the succeeding age. 

John Milton (i 608-1 674), who was a boy when Shakespeare 
died, and John Dryden (i 631-1700) illustrated this idea. The 
former says that he took Spenser as his original, but he was per- 
haps to a large extent indebted to the influence of all the brighter 
stars in the splendid galaxy of the Enghsh Renaissance. " He 
took their mythology, their allegories, sometimes their conceits, 
and discovered anew their rich coloring, their magnificent senti- 
ment of living nature, their inexhaustible admiration of forms and 
colors. But at the same time he transformed their diction and 
employed poetry in a new service." 1 His view of nature was 
therefore largely through the eyes of others. His style, brilliant 
and composite, was less natural than that of his masters, but 
more formal, more regular, more concentrated, and is a first step 
to the purely formal and exact style of the artificial or so-called 
classic age of Pope and his contemporaries. 

Though Dryden is regarded as the founder of the classical 
school of poetry, he is also, but perhaps not so broadly, reflective 
of the past age. He "both borrows and mars the inventions of 
Shakespeare." With Shakespeare words were quickening things, 
and behind a single word was often a whole scene of imagery, a 
mass of feeling, sentiment, passion. With Dryden, though there 
may be in them a little flickering of reflected beams, they create 
no vivid likeness of natural objects, and only feebly stir an en- 
feebled passion. They are arranged for form's sake, as if poetry 

1 Taine's English Literature. 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

were a matter of systematized learning, and a thing resulting from 
intellectual effort only. 

The effort for exactness of formal expression in verse, begun 
by Dryden, the father of this school of poetry, was perfected by 
Pope, his devoted disciple, in whom the classical spirit centered, 
and he became the "prince of the artificial school of poetry." 
During his time the classical style became dominant, and its as- 
cendency remains more or less potent to the present time. It is 
an admirable style ; but it is ^r/, not naUire; its pompous declama- 
tion is neither impassioned nor impassioning ; its classical correct- 
ness is not a dehcate or simple beauty ; it is in no sense " simple, 
sensuous, passionate." 

Although the classical spirit was altogether, and still is some- 
what, persistent and dominant, there came again the recurrent 
transition and a return to nature. Toward the end of the eight- 
eenth century we begin to notice the departure of artificial 
scene-painting, poetic machinery, the management of words for 
mere hterary effect ; poetry begins again to put on the robe 
of nature, but with art ; nature appears again as the sun and the 
clouds and the winds and the rains make it, and not as the poetic 
artificer fancies it ; and passion, feehngs, sentiments, are once 
more as human and intense as human nature makes them. The 
tinsel of classical embroidery is becoming dull and tarnished. 

This period gives us Thomson, a sad, impassioned man who 
talks with objects, and for whom the sky, the fields, the sun, the 
rain, and the mists have the genuine smile or frown of nature ; 
Akenside, a profoundly thoughtful man, imbued with the lofty 
spirit of old Greek poetry ; Collins, whose enthusiasm, ending in 
madness, bursts forth in an " Ode to the Passions ; " Goldsmith, 
the amiable and affectionate poet, whose " Vicar of Wakefield " 



1 6 INTROD UCTION. 

is " the most charming of Protestant pastorals," who in his " De- 
serted Village " and " Traveler," as well as in some of his prose 
works, discourses wisely on men, manners, and the characteristics 
of neighboring European civilizations ; and Gray, " the morose 
hermit of Cambridge," who in his earlier odes is influenced by 
Dryden and in his later poems by Spenser and Milton. 

Gray was the greatest English lyric poet of his time and of all 
ages. " Extreme conciseness of expression, yet pure, perspicuous, 
and musical, is one of the grand beauties of lyric poetry. This 
I have always aimed at, and never could attain," he writes, with 
his excessive modesty, yet "his art was a perfect lyric art." His 
diction is characterized by its perfect finish, its fehcity of expres- 
sion, its wealth of apt and splendid imagery, and a harmony of 
numbers surpassed by few, if any. His taste is both exact and 
pure, and his judgment always sound. 

As might be expected, Gray's letters are more characteristic of 
his personality than are his poems. Two brief quotations regard- 
ing them will close this introduction. The first is from William 
Cowper, who says: " I once thought Swift's letters the best that 
could be written, but I like Gray's better. His humor or his wit, 
or whatever it is to be called, is never ill-natured or offensive, and 
yet, I think, equally poignant with the dean's." And William 
Hazhtt, in his " Lectures on the English Poets," says : " His let- 
ters are inimitably fine. If his poems are sometimes finical and 
pedantic, his prose is quite free from affectation. He pours his 
thoughts out upon paper as they arise in his mind ; and they arise 
in his mind without pretense or constraint, from the pure impulse 
of learned leisure and contemplative indolence. . . . He had 
nothing to do but to read and think, and to tell his friends what 
he read and thought. His life was a luxurious, thoughtful dream." 



INTRODUCTION. 1 7 
CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE OF GRAY'S LIFE. 

YEAR EVENT GRAY's AGE 

1 7 16, December 26. Gray was born at Cornhill, London. 

1727. Entered Eton College; met Horace Walpole ... 11 

1734. Entered Peterhouse, Cambridge 18 

1738. Left Cambridge 22 

1739. Tour on the Continent with Walpole 23 

1 741. Returned to England ; death of his father . . . . 25 

1742. Wrote "Ode on the Spring," "Ode on Eton Col- 

lege," " Hymn to Adversity," "Sonnet on West;" 
began "Elegy;" removed to Peterhouse, Cam- 
bridge 26 

1743. Took degree of LL.B. at Cambridge 27 

1747. Wrote " Ode on Death of a Favorite Cat; " his first 

publication— " Ode on Eton College" . . . . 31 

1748. Wrote " AlHance of Education and Government " . 32 

1750. Wrote "A Long Story " 34 

1751. Published the " Elegy " 35 

1753. Death of his mother 37 

1754. Wrote " Ode to Vicissitude " t^% 

1755. Wrote " Progress of Poesy ;" began " The Bard " . 39 
1757. Published " Progress of Poesy" and "The Bard" . 41 
1762. Declined appointment to poet-laureateship ; applica- 
tion for professorship of modern history refused . 46 

1765. Tour of Scotland 49 

1768. Appointed professor of modern history at Cambridge 52 

1769. Published "Ode for Music" and "Ode on Duke of 

Grafton " 53 

1771, July 30. Died 55 

2 



ODE ON A DISTANT PROSPECT 
OF ETON COLLEGE.' 



^'AvOpcjTTog' LKavf] Tcpdipaaig el^ to dvarvx^lv,'^ 

Menander. 

Ye distant spires, ye antique towers, 

That crown ^ the wat'ry glade. 
Where grateful Science ^ still adores 

Her Henry's^ holy Shade; 
And ye,^ that from the stately brow 5 

Of Windsor's heights the expanse below 

Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey, 
Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among 
Wanders the hoary Thames along '^ 

His silver- winding ^ way. 10 

1 " This was the first poem of Gray's that appeared in print. It was pub- 
lished in folio in 1747, and republished with some other odes in 1751, when 
for the first time it attracted attention. It cannot be said to be a very pop- 
ular poem, perhaps because it is too personal. It seems to lack the apparent 
spontaneity of the Elegy, and the artistic qualities of the two great odes. 
Ho\yever, it expresses very naturally the feelings of a thoughtful and mature 
man when viewing a scene which recalls the days of his youth " (Gosse). 

2 " Because I am a man: a sufficient excuse for being miserable." This 
was the reply given to the question, " Why are you so miserable ? " 

3 Adorn; ornament. 4 "Grateful Science." Cf. Elegy, line iig- 
5 Eton College, on the Thames, was founded by Henry VI. in 1440. 

Shakespeare calls him "holy King Henry." Cf. Gray's comment in The 
Bard, p. 37, Note 7. 

* The towers of Windsor Castle. 

7 In lines 7, 8, the Thames is personified in classic fashion. 

8 Note the compound epithet. 

19 



2 THOMAS GRAY. 

Ah happy hills, ah pleasing shade, 

Ah fields beloved in vain,i 
Where once my careless childhood strayed, 

A stranger yet to pain! 

I feel the gales, that from ye blow, 15 

A momentary bhss bestow, 
» ... 

As waving fresh their gladsome wmg 

My weary soul they seem to soothe. 

And, redolent of joy and youth,^ 

To breathe a second spring.^ 20 

Say, Father Thames, for thou hast seen 

Full many a sprightly race 
Disporting on thy margent green* 

The paths of pleasure trace. 
Who foremost now delight to cleave 25 

With pliant arm thy glassy wave? 

The captive ^ linnet which inthrall ? ^ 
What idle progeny succeed ^ 
To chase the rolling circle's speed,'^ 

Or urge the flying ball? 30 

While some on earnest business bent 

Their murmuring labors ply ^ 
'Gainst graver hours, that bring constraint^ 

To sweeten liberty ; 

1 The promise of happiness and success, which his boyhood days held out 
to him while at Eton, has not been realized. 

2 Cf. " And bees their honey redolent of spring"— Dryden's Fable on 
the Pythagorean System (Gray). 

3 " To breathe," etc., i.e., to recall vividly the days of youth. 

4 " Margent green." Which is the noun? 

5 Note " captive " and " inthrall." 
<» " Succeed," a literal use. 

'^ The MS. reads : " To chase the hoop's illusive speed." Which is better? 

8 The busy hum of study. 

s Constraint (restraint) sweetens liberty. Cf. " Toil sweetens rest." 



ODE ON ETON COLLEGE. 2i 

Some bold adventurers disdain 3r 

The limits of their little reign, 

And unknown regions dare descry ;i 
Still as they run they look behind,^ 
They hear a voice in every wind, 

And snatch a fearful joy. 40 

Gay hope is theirs by fancy fed,^ 

Less pleasing when possessed ; 
The tear forgot as soon as shed, 

The sunshine of the breast ; 
Theirs buxom ^ health of rosy hue, 45 

Wild wit, invention ever new, 

And hvely cheer of vigor born ; 
The thoughtless day, the easy night, 
The spirits pure, the slumbers light. 

That fly th' approach of morn. 50 

Alas, regardless of their doom, 

The Httle victims play! 
No sense have they of ills to come. 

Nor care beyond to-day ;^ 
Yet see how all around 'em wait^ 55 

The Ministers of human fate. 

And black Misfortune's baleful train! 
Ah, show them where in ambush stand,^ 
To seize their prey, the murtherous ^ band ! 

Ah, tell them, they are men! 60 

1 Explore or seek. 2 " Still as they run," etc., very true to nature. 

2 " Gay hope," etc. Cf. a common saying. 

* " Buxom" is here used in its modern sense. An old form sometimes 
found is boiighsome, i.e., like the bough of a tree, graceful in movement. 

5 Lines 51-54. Pope's philosophy is better expressed. See his Essay 
on Man, I. lines 81-86. 6 " Yet see," etc. Cf. Progress of Poesy, ii. i. 

7 To whom is this line addressed? 8 Old form of " murderous." 



2 2 THOMAS GRAY. 

These shall the fury Passions ^ tear, 

The vultures of the mind, 
Disdainful Anger, pallid Fear, 

And Shame that skulks behind ; 
Or pining Love shall waste their youth, 65 

Or Jealousy with rankling tooth, 

That inly gnaws the secret heart. 
And Envy wan, and faded Care, 
Grim-visaged comfortless Despair, 

And Sorrow's piercing dart. 70 

Ambition this shall tempt to rise. 

Then whirl the wretch from high, 
To bitter Scorn a sacrifice. 

And grinning Infamy. 
The stings of Falsehood those shall try, 75 

And hard Unkindness' altered eye. 

That mocks the tear it forced to flow ; 
And keen Remorse with blood defiled. 
And moody Madness laughing wild 2 

Amid severest woe. 80 

Lo! in the vale of years beneath 

A grisly 3 troop are seen. 
The painful family of Death, 

More hideous than their queen. 
This racks the joints, this fires the veins,* 85 

That every laboring sinew strains, 

Those in the deeper vitals rage ; 

1 Cf. " frantic Passions," Progress of Poesy, line 16. Passions fierce as 
the mythical Furies. What is the predominant figure in the three stanzas, 
lines 51-80? Note the aptness of the epithets. 

2 " Madness laughing in his ireful mood "— Drvde.n's Palamon and Ar- 
cite, ii. 582 (Gray). 

3 Not same as " grizzly." Cf. The Bard, line 44. 
* Note the sound and sense of this line. 



ODE ON ETON COLLEGE. 23 

Lo, Poverty, to fill the band, 

That numbs the soul with icy hand,^ 

And slow-consuming Age. 90 

To each his sufferings ; all are men, 

Condemned alike to groan, 
The tender for another's pain, 

The unfeeling for his own. 
Yet ah! why should they know their fate? 2 95 

Since sorrow never comes too late, 

And happiness too swiftly flies. 
Thought would destroy their paradise. 
No more ; where ignorance is bliss, 

'Tis folly to be wise. 100 

1 Cf. Elegy, lines 51, 52. 

2 The same thought is found in old rime : 

" If ills ne'er come, our fears are vain; 
And if they do, fear but augments the pain." 



THE PROGRESS OF POESY. 



A PINDARIC ODE. 

^cjvavTa owerolaiA 

Pindar, Olymp. ii. 

I. I. 

Awake, ^olian - lyre, awake,^ 
And give to rapture all thy trembling strings. 
From Helicon's harmonious springs* 

A thousand rills ^ their mazy progress take ; 
The laughing flowers,^ that round them blow,'^ 5 

1 " Vocal to the intelligent [only]." 

2 ^olia, a district of Greece, the fabled birth country of poetry. 

3 " Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp" (Psalm Ivii. 8). 

" The subject and simile, as usual with Pindar, are united. The various 
sources of poetry, which gives life and luster to all it touches, are here 
described ; its quiet, majestic progress enriching every subject (otherwise dry 
and barren) with a pomp of diction and luxuriant harmony of numbers, and 
its more rapid and irresistible course, when swollen and hurried away by the 
conflict of tumultuous passions " (Gr.\y). 

4 Helicon was a mountain in Boeotia, fabled as the abode of the Muses, 
to whom the two fountains it contained were sacred. 

5 Note the music of the word " rills." 

6 " Laughing flowers," the ornaments of poetry. "^ Bloom. 

General Note. — This poem was finished in 1 745, but not published until 
I757> when it appeared in quarto form with The Bard. The poems were not 

24 



THE PROGRESS OF POESY. 2$ 

Drink life and fragrance as they flow. 

Now the rich stream of music winds along, 

Deep, majestic, smooth, and strong,^ 

Through verdant vales,^ and Ceres' ^ golden reign ;* 

Now roHing down the steep amain,^ lo 

Headlong, impetuous, see it pour ; 

The rocks and nodding groves rebellow to the roar.^ 



I. 2.7 

Oh! Sovereign of the willing soul. 
Parent of sweet and solemn-breathing airs, 
Enchanting shell !^ the sullen Cares 15 

And frantic Passions hear thy soft control. 

1 " Note the movement of the line" (Hales). 

2 " Verdant vales," i.e., pastoral poetry. 3 Goddess of harvest. 

4 " Golden reign," i.e., the yellow or golden harvest. 

5 With force. 

6 Lines 10-12 are suggestive of the higher forms of poetry, as epic or 
dramatic. 

7 Lines 13-24. " Power of harmony to calm the turbulent sallies of the 
soul" (Gray). 

8 According to the myth, the first lyre was made by Mercury from a tor- 
toise shell. Cf. Collins's Ode to the Passions, line 3. 

popular at first, their want of success being due to the obscurity which, in the 
case of The Bard particularly, was the chief source of sublimity, it being cast in 
the form of a prophetic vision. Gray was persuaded to add some explanatory 
notes, which he did, saying : " As to the notes, I do it out of spite, because the 
public did not understand the two odes, though the first was not very dark, 
and the second alluded to a few very common facts to be found in any six- 
penny history of England, by way of question and answer, for the use of chil- 
dren. " These odes are called ' ' Pindaric, " and are constructed on Greek models 
of Pindar. They are composed of nine stanzas, symmetrically arranged in 
groups of three (ternaries), the corresponding stanzas of all the ternaries 
being so exactly intercorrespondent that even unusual poetic forms are 
repeated in corresponding lines of each ternary. The technical Greek names 
for these three parts are strophe, ontistrophe, and epodos. This manner of 
construction of odes does not seem to have been a favorite with English poets. 



?^ >i::.:... THOMAS GRAY. 

On Thracia's^ hills the Lord of War 
Has curbed the fury of his car, 
And dropped his thirsty lance ^ at thy command. 
•:Perching on the sceptered hand 20 

c*. Of Jove, thy magic lulls the feathered king^ 

With .ruffled plumes and flagging wing ; 
Quenched in dark clouds of slumber lie 
The terror of his beak, and lightnings of his eye. 

1. 3* 

Thee the voice, the dance, obey, 25 

Tempered to ^ thy warbled lay. 
O'er Idalia's^ velvet-green" 
The rosy-crowned Loves are seen 
On Cytherea's ^ day 

'With antic ^ Sports, and blue-eyed Pleasures, 30 

Frisking light in frolic measures ; 
Now pursuing, now retreating. 

Now in circling troops they meet ; 
To brisk notes in cadence beating 

Glance their many-twinkling ^^ feet. 35 

Slow melting strains their Queen's approach declare; 11 

Where'er she turns the Graces homage pay. 

1 Mars, the gpd of war, was worshiped in Thrace. 

2 Note the force of " thirsty lance." 

3 The eagle, " feathered king," was the bird of Jove. 

* Lines 25-41. " Power of harmony to produce all the graces of motion 
in the body " (Gray). 

5 " Tempered to," i.e., in rhythm with; in time to. 

6 " Idalia," for Idalium, a town of Cyprus, a favorite seat of Venus. 

■^ Note the compound " velvet-green." 8 Another name for Venus. 

^ Grotesque, because old-fashioned. Cf. "antique." 

10 A curious but very expressive epithet. 

11 The first eleven lines have a rapid movement, in perfect keeping with 
the action described. What is the measure? Note the abrupt change to a 
longer verse and the resultant slower movement. 



THE PROGRESS OF POESY. 27 

With arms sublime,^ that float upon the air, 
In gliding state - she wins her easy way ; 
O'er her warm cheek, and rising bosom, move 40 

The bloom of young Desire, and purple light of Love.^ 

II. 1.4 

Man's feeble race what ills await! 
Labor, and Penury, the racks of Pain, 
Disease, and Sorrow's weeping train. 

And Death, sad refuge from the storms of Fate! 45 
The fond ^ complaint, my Song, disprove. 
And justify the laws of Jove.^ 
Say, has he given in vain the heavenly Muse?' 
Night, and all her sickly dews. 

Her specters wan, and birds of boding cry, 50 

He gives to range the dreary sky ; 
Till down "* the eastern cliffs afar 
Hyperion's ^ march they spy, and glittering shafts of 
war.^ 

II. 2.10 

In climes beyond ^i the solar road,i2 
Where shaggy forms o'er ice-built mountains roam, 55 

1 Uplifted (the literal sense). 

2 " Gliding state." The gods did not walk. 

3 " Purple light of Love." Purple, being a royal color, suggests the 
power of love. 

* Lines 42-53. " To compensate the real and Imaginary ills of life, the 
Muse was given to mankind by the same Providence that sends the day, 
by its cheerful presence, to dispel the gloom and terrors of the night " 
(Gray). 5 Foolish. 

<> " And justify," etc. Cf. Milton's Paradise Lost, i. line 26. 

7 Why not "up"? 8 Father of Helios, god of the sun. 

9 "Glittering shafts of war," i.e., sunbeams. Why "shafts of war"? 

10 Lines 54-65. " Extensive influence of poetic genius over the remotest 
and most uncivilized nations ; its connection with liberty and the virtues that 
naturally attend on it " (Gray). 

11 " Beyond," south of the equator. 12 " Solar road," path of the sun. 



2 8 THOMAS GRAY. 

The Muse has broke the twilight gloom ^ 

To cheer the shivering Native's dull abode. 
And oft, beneath the odorous shade 
Of Chile's boundless forests laid, 

She deigns to hear the savage youth repeat, 60 

In loose numbers '-^ wildly sweet,^ 
Their feather-cinctured Chiefs, and dusky Loves.'* 
Her track, where'er the Goddess roves, 
Glory pursue, and generous Shame, 
The unconquerable Mind, and Freedom's holy flame. 65 

II. 3-' 

Woods, that wave o'er Delphi's ^ steep, 
Isles, that crown the ^gean deep,'^ 
Fields, that cool Ilissus ^ laves. 
Or where Maeander's ^ amber waves 

1 " Twilight gloom," intellectual and moral darkness. 

2 "Loose numbers," irregular but rhythmical verse. "Numbers" is 
often used for " verse." 3 Note the melody of line 61. 

4 " Their feather-cinctured," etc., i.e., songs of war and love. 

5 Lines 66-82. " Progress of Poetry from Greece to Italy, and from Italy 
to England. Chaucer was not unacquainted with the writings of Dante or 
of Petrarch. The earl of Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyatt had traveled in Italy 
and formed their taste there. Spenser imitated the Italian writers ; Milton 
improved on them ; but this school expired soon after the Restoration, and a 
new one arose on the French model, which has subsisted ever since " (Gray). 

6 " Delphi." Old form of word is " Delphos." Here was the oracle of 
Apollo, god of music. It is at the foot of Parnassus, 

■^ Cf. Byron's Song of the Greek Bard, Don Juan, Canto III. : 
" The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece! 
Where burning Sappho loved and sung." 

Cf. also Milton's Comus, lines 21-23. 

" That like to rich and various gems inlay 
The ilnadorned bosom of the deep." 

8 A river of Athens. 

^ Miletus, on the Maeander, was an intellectual center, the birthplace of 
many famous in letters and philosophy. 



THE PROGRESS OF POESY, 29 

In lingering labyrinths creep,^ 70 

How do your tuneful echoes languish, 

Mute, but to the voice of Anguish! 
Where each old poetic mountain 

Inspiration breathed around ; 
Every shade and hallowed fountain 75 

Murmured deep a solemn sound; 
Till the sad Nine - in Greece's evil hour 

Left their Parnassus for the Latian plains.^ 
Alike they scorn the pomp of tyrant Power, 

And coward Vice, that revels in her chains. 80 

When Latium * had her lofty spirit lost, 
They sought, O Albion ! ^ next thy sea-encircled coast. 

III. I. 

Far from the sun ^ and summer gale. 
In thy green lap '^ was Nature's Darling ^ laid. 
What time,^ where lucid Avon ^^ strayed, 85 

To him the mighty Mother i^ did unveil 
Her awful ^^ face. The dauntless ^^ Child 
Stretched forth his little arms, and smiled. 
This pencil take (she said) whose colors clear 1* 
Richly paint the vernal year ; 90 

1 Note the alliteration and the slow movement. 2 The Muses. 

3 Lines 77, 78, allude to the capture of Constantinople in 1453. After 
the capture of the city the men of letters fled the country, passing westward 
to Italy, and thence northwestward. This is known as the "renaissance" 
of learning in Europe. ^ Italy. 

5 England. Inquire as to the origin of this name. 

6 " Far from the sun." England lies far to the north. 

7 " Green lap." England is noted for its verdant fields. 

8 " Nature's Darling," Shakespeare (Gray). 

9 " What time," Latin idiom. 

10 The word means " water " or " stream." i^ Nature. 

12 In the sense of inspiring fear with reverence. 

13 Not repelled by the '* awful face." 

1* Lines 89-94 suggest Shakespeare's power in what? 



30 THOMAS GRAY. 

Thine too these golden ^ keys, immortal Boy! 

This can unlock the gates of Joy, 

Of Horror that, and thrilling Fears, 

Or ope the sacred source - of sympathetic Tears. 

III. 2. 

Nor second He,^ that rode sublime 95 

Upon the seraph wings of Ecstasy,* 
The secrets of th' Abyss ^ to spy, 

He passed the flaming bounds of Place and Time ;^ 
The living Throne, the sapphire blaze," 
Where Angels tremble, while they gaze, 100 

He saw ; but, blasted with excess of light, 
Closed his eyes in endless night. ^ 
Behold, where Dryden's less presumptuous car 
Wide o'er the fields of Glory bear 

Two Coursers^ of ethereal race, 105 

With necks in thunder clothed, and long-resounding pace.^<^ 

in. 3- 

Hark, his hands the lyre explore! 
Bright-eyed Fancy hovering o'er 

1 Note the epithet " golden." 2 "Why " source " rather than " font "? 

3 Milton. ■* " Upon the seraph wings," etc. Cf. Elegy, line 48. 

5 " Abyss," space that was void. 

6 Gray suggests by this line that Milton wrote of what there was before there 
was any place (outside of heaven and hell) or time as we understand it. 

"^ "The living Throne," etc. Cf. Milton's II Penseroso, line 53, and 
Paradise Lost, vi. lines 758, 771. 

8 Lines loi, 102. Milton did not lose his sight in writing Paradise Lost. 
Lilierty with facts is a poet's license. 

9 " Two Coursers," probably alluding to the dramatic and lyric verse of 
Dryden. 

10 Is this line bombastic? Gray says that it was " meant to express the 
stately march and sounding energy of Dryden's rimes." Gray's admiration 
for Dryden is boundless. He says, in effect, that he learned the art of verse 
from a study of that poet. 



THE PROGRESS OF POESY. 31 

Scatters from her pictured urn 1 

Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.^ no 

But ah! 'tis heard no more^ — 

Oh! Lyre divine, what daring Spirit 

Wakes thee now? though he inherit 
Nor the pride, nor ample pinion, 

That the Theban Eagle* bear 115 

Sailing with supreme dominion 

Through the azure deep of air, 
Yet oft before his infant eyes would run 

Such forms, as glitter in the Muse's ray 
With orient^ hues, unborrowed of the Sun ; 120 

Yet shall he mount, and keep his distant way 
Beyond the limits of a vulgar ^ fate. 
Beneath the Good how far — but far above the Great J 

1 Note the metaphor in this line. 

2 " Thoughts," etc., i.e., some words excite the imagination, others arouse 
the emotions. 

^ " We have had in our language no other odes of the sublime kind than 
that of Dryden on St. Cecilia's Day" (Gray). 

4 " Theban Eagle," Pindar. " A<of Trpoq hpvixd delov (" The divine bird 
of Jove ") (Pindar's Olymp. ii.). Pindar compares himself to that bird, and 
his enemies to ravens that croak and clamor in vain below, while it pursues 
its flight, regardless of their noise " (Gray). 

5 Brilliant (an associated meaning). 
*> Common ; from the Latin, viilgus. 

"^ " Beneath the Good," etc., i.e., the ^i7<?^ far outshine the merely ^;r«/. 



THE BARD/ 

A PINDARIC ODE. 
I. I. 

"Ruin seize thee, ruthless King!^ 
Confusion on thy banners wait, 
Though fanned by Conquest's crimson wing^ 

They mock the air with idle state.* 
Helm, nor hauberk's ^ twisted mail, 5 

Nor even thy virtues, Tyrant, shall avail ® 

To save thy secret soul from nightly ^ fears, 

From Cambria's^ curse, from Cambria's tears!" 

1 " This ode is founded on a tradition, current in Wales, that Edward I., 
when he completed the conquest of that country, ordered all the bards 
that fell into his hands to be put to death" (Gray). It is needless to say 
that Edward did no such thing, and Gray accepted the tradition, not as hav- 
ing any basis of fact, but purely for poetic use, and perhaps for a moral pur- 
pose, "to show the retributive justice that follows an act of tyranny and 
wickedness." 

2 Note the alliteration. 3 What expressive figure in the line? 

4 " Mocking the air with colors idly spread " (Shakespeare's King John, 
V. i). 

5 " The hauberk was a texture of steel ringlets, or rings interwoven, form- 
ing a coat of mail that sat close to the body and adapted itself to every motion " 
(Gray). 

6 It was said in praise of the king: " Velox est ad veniam, ad vindictam 
tardus." 7 Nocturnal. 8 Another name for Wales. 

32 



THE BARD. 2iZ 

Such were the sounds that o'er the crested pride ^ 

Of the first Edward scattered wild dismay, lo 

As down the steep of Snowdon's ^ shaggy ^ side 
He wound with toilsome march his long array. 

Stout Glo'ster* stood aghast in speechless trance; 

"To arms! " cried Mortimer,^ and couched his quivering 
Iance.6 

I. 2. 

On a rock, whose haughty brow 15 

Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood, 

Robed in the sable garb of woe, 
With haggard eyes the Poet stood ; 
(Loose his beard and hoary hair 

Streamed, like a meteor, to the troubled air'') 20 

And with a Master's hand, and Prophet's fire, 
Struck the deep sorrows of his lyre. 

" Hark, how each giant oak, and desert cave, 
Sighs to the torrent's awful voice beneath! 

1 " Crested pride." Cf. Elegy, line 33. 

2 The Saxons gave this name to the range of mountains in southeastern 
Wales. 

2 "Shaggy" suggests the great forests that covered the sides of the 
mountains. 

4 " Gilbert de Clare, surnamed the Red, earl of Gloucester, and Hertford, 
son-in-law to King Edward " (Gray). 

5 " Edmond de Mortimer, lord of Wigmore. Gilbert de Clare and Edmond 
de Mortimer were both lo7-d marchers, whose lands lay on the borders of Wales, 
and who probably accompanied the king in this expedition " (Gray). 

6 Lines 13, 14, emphasize the idea of "wild dismay." 

■^ " The image was taken from a well-known picture of Raphael, repre- 
senting the Supreme Being in the vision of Ezekiel. There are two of these 
paintings (both believed original), one at Florence, the other at Paris " 
(Gray). " Shone like a meteor, streaming to the wind" (MiLTON's Para- 
dise Lost, i. 537). 

3 



34 THOMAS GRAY. 

O'er thee, O King! their hundred arms they wave, 25 

Revenge on thee in hoarser murmurs ^ breathe ; 
Vocal no more, since Cambria's fatal day, 
To high-born Hoel's- harp, or soft Llewellyn's lay.^ 

I- 3. 

" Cold is Cadwallo's * tongue, 

That hushed the stormy main ;^ 30 

Brave Urien ^ sleeps upon his craggy bed ; 

Mountains, ye mourn in vain 

Modred,^ whose magic song 
Made huge Plinlimmon ''' bow his cloud-topped head. 

On dreary Arvon's^ shore they lie, 35 

Smeared with gore, and ghastly pale ; 
Far, far aloof th' affrighted ravens sail ; 

The famished Eagle screams, and passes by.^ 
Dear lost companions of my tuneful art. 

Dear, as the light that visits these sad eyes, 40 

Dear, as the ruddy drops that warm my heart,^ 

Ye died amidst your dying country's cries — 



10 



1 " Hoarser murmurs." The epithet may be cumulative in meaning, or it 
may be like the occasional use of the comparative in Latin. 

2 Hoel was a famous bard. Some of his poems are still extant. He was 
a prince of North Wales, hence " high-born." 

3 " Soft Llewellyn's lay." The context seems to suggest that Llewellyn 
was a bard; yet it may refer to a poem celebrating him as a " tender-hearted 
prince. " In an ode by another Welsh poet he is called ' ' Llewellyn the mild. " 

^ Cadwallo and Urien were bards. None of their songs are extant. 

5 " That hushed," etc., the poetic fancy that music influenced inanimate 
objects. See also line 34. 

'' Nothing is known of Modred. 

"^ One of the loftiest mountains of Wales. The name appears to be a cor- 
ruption of Pum-plumon (the " Five Beacons "), from the five piles of stones 
found on the mountains. 

8 *' The shores of Caernarvonshire, opposite to the isle of Anglesey " (GRAY). 

9 Note the effect of lines 36-38 in producing the feeling of horror. 
10 Cf. Julius Cjesar, ii. i. 



THE BARD. 35 

No more I weep. They do not sleep.^ 

On yonder cliffs, a grisly - band, 
I see them sit, they linger yet, 45 

Avengers of their native land ; 
With me in dreadful harmony they join, 
And weave with bloody hands the tissue of thy line." ^ 



II. I. 

" Weave the warp, and weave the woof, 
The winding sheet of Edward's race. • 50 

Give ample room, and verge enough 
The characters of hell to trace. 
Mark the year, and mark the night, 

When Severn shall reecho with affright 54 

The shrieks of death, through Berkeley's roofs that ring, 
Shrieks of an agonizing King!* 

She-Wolf ^ of France, with unrelenting fangs. 
That tear'st the bowels of thy mangled Mate,^ 

From thee be born, who o'er thy country hangs'^ 59 
The scourge of Heaven. W^hat Terrors round him wait! 
Amazement in his van, with Flight combined. 
And Sorrow's faded form, and Solitude behind. 

1 Note the sectional rime in this line; also in line 45, though " sit " and 
" yet " are not perfect rimes. 

2 Cf. Eton College, line 82. 

3 " And weave," etc. Gray in his ode, The Fatal Sisters, represents the 
Fates of Gothic mythology as weaving the destinies of those doomed to die 
in battle. 

4 Lines 55, 56, allude to the cruel murder of Edward II. in Berkeley Castle, 
in 1327. He was the first " Prince of Wales." 

5 " Isabel of France, Edward II. 's queen " (Gray). 

6 Line 58 alludes to the manner of Edward's murder. Dryden, in his 
tragedy, Edward II., gives a different account. Hume, in his history, ad- 
heres to the first account. 

■^ " Triumphs of Edward III. in France " (Gray). 



36 THOMAS GRAY. 



II. 2. 

"Mighty Victor, mighty Lord! 
Low on his funeral couch he hes ! ^ 

No pitying heart, no eye, afford 65 

A tear to grace his obsequies. 

Is the sable Warrior 2 fled? 
Thy son is gone. He rests among the Dead. 
The Swarm, ^ that in thy noontide beam* were born? 
Gone to salute the rising Morn.^ 70 

Fair laughs the Morn, and soft the Zephyr blows. 

While proudly riding o'er the azure realm ^ 
In gallant trim the gilded Vessel goes;"^ 

Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm ; 
Regardless of the sweeping Whirlwind's sway,^ 75 

That, hushed in grim repose, expects his evening prey.^ 

11. 3. 

" Fill high the sparkling bowl,i<^ 
The rich repast prepare. 

Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feast; 
Close by the regal chair 80 

1 " Death of that king, abandoned by his children, and even robbed in his 
last moments by his courtiers and his mistress " (Gray). 

2 " Edward, the Black Prince, dead some time before his father " (Gray). 
5 Note the tone of the word. 

* " Noontide beam," i.e., in the days of prosperity and peace. 

5 " Rising Morn," i.e., the new king. " Le roi est mort : vive le roi! " 

6 " Azure realm " means what? 

■^ Note the alliteration in this line. 

8 Lines 71-74 allude to the " magnificence of Richard II.'s reign. See 
Froissard and other contemporary writers " (Gray). 

9 Comment on the metaphor in lines 75, 76. 

10 " Fill high," etc. " Richard II. (as we are told by Archbishop Scroop 
and the confederate lords in their manifesto, by Thomas of Walsingham and 



THE BARD. 37 

Fell Thirst and Famine scowl ^ 

A baleful smile ^ upon their baffled Guest. 
Heard ye the din of battle bray,^ 

Lance to lance, and horse to horse? 

Long Years of havoc urge their destined course, 85 
And through the kindred squadrons mow their way. 

Ye Towers ^ of Julius, London's lasting shame. 
With many a foul and midnight murther fed, 

Revere his Consort's ^ faith, his Father's ^ fame, 
And spare the meek Usurper's holy "^ head. 90 

Above, below, the rose of snow,^ 

Twined with her blushing ^ foe, we spread ; 
The bristled Boar ^ in infant gore ^^ 

Wallows beneath the thorny shade. ^^ 
Now, Brothers, bending o'er th' accursed loom 95 

Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom. 

all the older writers) was starved to death. The story of his assassination 
by Sir Piers of Exon is of much later date " (Gray). Find this later story. 

1 Note the personification and the alliteration in lines 81, 82. 

2 Note the force of " scowl a baleful smile." 

^ " Ruinous wars of York and Lancaster" (Gray). 

4 " Henry VI., George, duke of Clarence, Edward V., Richard, duke of 
York, etc., believed to be murdered secretly in the Tower of London. The 
oldest part of that structure is by tradition attributed to Julius Csesar " (Gray). 

5 " Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic spirit, who struggled hard to 
save her husband and her crown " (Gray). 6 " Henry V." (Gray). 

'^ " Henry VL, very near being canonized. The line of Lancaster had no 
right of inheritance to the crown " (Gray). Who was first of the Lancastrian 
kings? How did he get the crown? Cf. Eton College, line 4. 

8 The white and red roses, devices of York and Lancaster. 

9 " The silver boar was the badge of Richard HL, whence he was usually 
known in his own time by the name of ' the Boar ' " (Gray). Cf. Shake- 
speare's Richard III., iv. v. 

10 " Infant gore" alludes to the murder of the princes in the Tower. Cf. 
Shakespeare's Richard III., iii. iv. 

11 " Thorny shade." The helmet of Richard, with his " silver boar," was 
found under a thorn tree after the battle of Bosworth Field. The allusion is 
to his death in that battle. 



38 THOMAS GRAY. 

III. I. 

"Edward, lo! to sudden fate 
(Weave we the woof. The thread is spun.) 

Half of thy heart we consecrate.^ 
(The web is wove. The work is done.) " loo 

" Stay, oh stay! nor thus forlorn 

Leave me unblessed, unpitied, here to mourn ; 

In yon bright track, that fires the western skies, 

They melt, they vanish from my eyes. 

But oh! what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height 105 

Descending slow their glitt'ring skirts unroll? 
Visions of glory, spare my aching sight, 

Ye unborn Ages, crowd not on my soul! 
No more our long-lost Arthur we bewail. 2 
All hail, ye genuine Kings, Britannia's Issue, hail!^ no 

III. 2. 

" Girt with many a Baron bold 
Sublime their starry fronts they rear ; 

1 " Half of thy heart," etc. " Eleanor of Castile died a few years after 
the conquest of Wales. The heroic proof she gave of her affection for her 
lord is well known. [What is the story?] The monuments of his regret 
and sorrow for the loss of her are still to be seen at Northampton, Gedding- 
ton, Waltham, and other places " (Gray). These monuments, the "Eleanor 
crosses," were erected at each stopping place for the night on the journey 
from Hardby, where she died, to Westminster. There were thirteen or fif- 
teen of them. Three yet remain. Charing Cross, in London, was the site 
of one of them ; but the one there now is a facsimile of the original. These 
were all of exquisite Gothic art. 

2 Line 109 alludes to " the common belief of the Welsh nation that King 
Arthur was still alive in fairyland, and would return again to reign over 
Britain " (Gray). 

3 Line 110 alludes to the " accession of the line of Tudor. Both Merlin 
and Taliessin had prophesied that the Welsh should regain their sovereignty 
over this island, which seemed to be accomplished in the house of Tudor " 
(Gray). Who was first of the Tudor line? Trace his Welsh origin. 



THE BARD. 39 

And gorgeous Dames, and Statesmen old 
In bearded majesty, appear. 

In the midst' a Form divine ! 1x5 

Her eye proclaims her of the Briton Line ; 
Her lion port/ her awe-commanding face, 
Attempered sweet to virgin grace. ^ 
What strings symphonious tremble in the air, 

What strains of vocal transport round her play!^ 120 
Hear from the grave, great Taliessin,^ hear ; 

They breathe a soul to animate thy clay. 
Bright Rapture calls, and soaring, as she sings, 
Waves in the eye of Heaven her many-colored wings. 

in. 3. 

" The verse adorn again 125 

Fierce War, and faithful Love, 
And Truth severe, by fairy Fiction dressed.^ 

In buskined measures move 
Pale Grief, and pleasing Pain, 
With Horror, Tyrant of the throbbing breast.^ 130 

A Voice as of the Cherub Choir, 
Gales from blooming Eden bear;"^ 
And distant warblings lessen on my ear, 

1 " Speed, relating an audience given by Queen Elizabeth to Paul Dzia- 
linski, ambassador of Poland, says : ' And thus she, lionlike rising, 
daunted the malapert orator no less with her stately port and majestical de- 
porture than with the tartnesse of her princelie cheeckes ' " (Gray). 

2 "Attempered sweet," etc. It was quite fashionable to flatter Queen 
Elizabeth. It is not to be doubted that she was a great sovereign, but there 
is some question as to her having been a sweet-tempered and gracious maiden. 

3 What is the allusion in lines 119, 120? 

* " Taliessin, chief of the bards, flourished in the sixth century. His 
works are still preserved, and his memory held in high veneration, among his 
countrymen " (Gray). 

5 Lines 126, 127, allude to the allegory, Spenser's Faerie Queene. 

6 Lines 128-130 describe Shakespeare, and the tragic stage. 
■^ Lines 131, 132, refer to Milton's Paradise Lost. 



40 THOMAS GRAY. 

That lost in long futurity expire.^ 134 

Fond - impious Man, think'st thou, yon sanguine cloud,^ 

Raised by thy breath, has quenched the Orb of day? ^ 
To-morrow he repairs the golden flood. 

And warms the nations with redoubled ray. 
Enough for me. With joy I see 

The different doom our Fates assign. 140 

Be thine Despair, and sceptered Care, 

To triumph, and to die, are mine." 

He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height 
Deep in the roaring tide he plunged to endless night. 

1 Lines 133, 134, indicate "the succession of poets after Milton's time" 
(Gray). 2 Foolish. 3 " Sanguine cloud," i.e., war. 

* " Orb of day," i.e., poetry. Cf. Progress of Poesy, ii. i. 



ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY 
CHURCHYARD.' 



The curfew ^ tolls the knell of parting ^ day, 
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,* 

The plowman homeward plods his weary way,^ 
And leaves the world to darkness and to me. 

Now fades the glimmering ^ landscape on the sight, 5 
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,"^ 

1 This poem was begun in 1742, but not finished until 1750, nor published 
until 1 75 1, undergoing in the mean time many alterations ; several stanzas were 
omitted from the first completed form. It is perhaps the most widely known 
poem in the English language, and has been translated into various languages, 
both of ancient and of modern Europe. There can be no stronger proof of 
the universal interest which attaches to the poem. 

It is generally conceded to be Gray's greatest work. Byron says : " It is 
the corner stone of his glory." Hales says that it deals with the obstinate 
questionings of the soul " in no lofty, philosophical manner, but in a simple, 
humble, unpretentious way, always with the truest and broadest humanity." 
Another thinks that " by this poem he will be known forever, alike by the 
lettered and the unlettered. " Every lover of poetry knows this poem by heart. 

2 French, couvre-feii. Origin of ? Purpose? 

3 " Parting" means what? 

4 Note special poetic property of the line. Why " wind"? 

5 Note the alliteration in this line. Try how many transformations can be 
made, preserving the sense of the line. 

6 Note "glimmering." Define. "^ Has. Subject? 

41 



42 THOMAS GRAY. 

Save where the beetle wheels his droning ^ flight, 
And drowsy 2 tinklings lull^ the distant folds;* 

Save that from yonder ivy-mantled ^ tower 

The moping^ owl does to the moon complain lo 

Of such as, wand'ring near her secret '^ bower,^ 
Molest her ancient solitary reign. ^ 

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew tree's shade,^*^ 
Where heaves the turf in many a mold'ring heap, 

Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 15 

The rude 11 Forefathers of the hamlet ^- sleep. 

The breezy call of incense-breathing ^^ Morn,i* 
The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed, 

The cock's shrill clarion, ^^ or the echoing horn,^^ 

No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.^''' 20 

1 " Droning." Define, and explain its effect. 

2 Note the double duty of " drowsy." 

3 Why is " lull" better than " still"? 

4 "Folds." What figure of speech? 

5 What suggestion in " ivy-mantled"? 

6 Softer than " hooting" or " wailing." 
■7 " Secret." Literal meaning of? 

8 Is "bower" entirely apt? 

9 What is the general effect of the first three stanzas? Point out the 
words and phrases that produce this effect. 

10 The branches of the elms interlacing above form, as it were, cathedral 
arches. The yew tree has both sacred and patriotic associations. 

11 Unlearned. 12 a little home, Cf. the Scotch, hame. 

13 Cf. with " incense" the words " odorous," " fragrance," " perfume." 
What is there more in the word used? 

1* One MS. reads: " Forever sleep; the breezy call of Morn." 

15 The same MS. has : " Or chanticleer so shrill." The present reading is 
more effective and, besides, removes a foreign word. 

16 " Echoing horn " of whom? 

1' Note that " bed " is literal, and not figurative. 



ELEGY. 



43 



For them no more the blazing hearth ^ shall burn, 
Or busy housewife ply her evening care ;2 

No children run to lisp their sire's return, 
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.^ 

Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, 25 

Their furrow* oft the stubborn glebe ^ has broke ;6 

How jocund did they drive their team afield I^ 

How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke! 

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,^ 

Their homely ^ joys, and destiny obscure ; 30 

Nor Grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile, 
The short and simple annals ^^ of the poor.^^ 

The boast of heraldry,^^ ^^^ pomp of power. 
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 

Awaits 1^ alike th' inevitable hour. 35 

The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 1* 

-X^ Nor you, ye Proud, impute to thes^^^ the fault. 

If Mem'ry ^^ o'er their tomb no trophies ^'^ raise. 
Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault ^^ 
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise. ^^ 40 

1 What figure in " blazing hearth "? 

2 Is " ply her evening care " a good expression? 

3 Cf. lines 23, 24, with The Cotter's Saturday Night, lines 21, 22. 

4 "Furrow." What figure? 5 Define. 6 Note " has broke." 
7 " Afield" is an adverb. 8 Note personification. 

9 One MS. has " rustic " in place of " homely. " 
10 History or records. H Note the questionable rime in this stanza. 

12 " Heraldry" here stands for those who, having nothing in themselves 
to boast of, are satisfied to boast of the deeds of their ancestors. 

13 Most modern editions read " await." 

1* " A literal translation from the Latin of Bartholinus " (Hayley). 
15 Who? 16 What figure? 17 Define. 

18 Meaning? Cf. lines 15, 16. 

19 Lines 39, 40, suggest the pompous funeral ceremonies attending the ob- 



44 THOMAS GRAY. 

Can storied urn ^ or animated - bust 

Back to its mansion^ call the fleeting breath? 

Can Honor's voice * provoke ^ the silent dust, 
Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull, cold ear of Death? ^ 

Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid 45 

Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire \'^ 

Hands that the rod ^ of empire might have swayed, 
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.^ 

But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page, 

Rich with the spoils of time,i^ did ne'er unroll ; 50 

Chill 11 Penury repressed ^^ their noble rage,^^ 
And froze the genial current of the soul.i* 

Full many a gem of purest ray serene ^^ 

The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear ; 

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 55 

And waste its sweetness on the desert air. 

Some village Hampden,i^ that with dauntless breast 
The little tyrant of his fields withstood ; 

sequies of the titled proud, whose tombs are under the pavements of the 
sanctuary. Compare the fourth stanza. 

1 " Storied urn," an urn with some of the deeds of the departed inscribed. 

2 Lifelike. 3 ' Mansion" means what? Latin, ??ianeo. 

4 " Honor's voice," i.e., words of praise or honor. 

5 Call forth, i.e., back to life. 6 jg this stanza in any sense ironical? 
" Celestial fire," heavenly inspiration. 

8 One MS. reads " reins " in place of " rod." 

9 Cowper has " awful lyre ;" Cowley has " living lyre ; " Pope has " liv- 
ing harp." The epithet is hardly explicable, though the force of it is plainly 
felt. 10 What are " the spoils of time "? n " Chill" is active. 

12 One MS. reads "depressed." 13 Enthusiasm. 

1* This stanza and the following contain together an implied simile. 

15 " Purest ray serene," a Miltonic arrangement of epithets. 

16 John Hampden, a cousin of Oliver Cromwell, in 1636 refused to pay the 



ELEGY. 45 

Some mute inglorious ^ Milton ^ here may rest, 

Some Cromwell ^ guiltless of his country's blood. 60 

Th' applause of list'ning senates to command, 
The threats of pain and ruin to despise, 

To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, 

And read their history in a nation's eyes,* 

Their lot forbade ;^ nor circumscribed alone 65 

Their growing virtues,^ but their crimes confined;'^ 

Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, 
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,^ 

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide. 

To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,® 70 

Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride ^^ 
With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.^^ 

Far from the madding ^^ crowd's ignoble strife. 
Their sober wishes never learned to stray j^^ 

ship-money tax levied by Charles I. (" the little tyrant "). He was wounded 
in the fight at Chalgrove P'ield, and died of his wound June 24, 1643. 

1 " Mute" and therefore " inglorious." 

2 Milton, the eminent English poet (1608-1674). What are his chief 
works? 

3 Oliver Cromwel; (i 599-1658) was the master spirit of the great revolu- 
tion. The line seems to imply that Gray was affected with the prejudice 
against Cromwell existing during the eighteenth century. These references 
are examples of the figure antonomasia. 

4 Note that lines 61-64 are objective phrases. 

5 " Their lot forbade " them to be what? 

6 " Their growing virtues," i.e., the growth of virtues. 
"^ " Confined," restrained. 

8 Lines 67, 68, probably another allusion to Cromwell. 

9 Lines 69, 70, seem labored, or to want spontaneity. 

10 To fawn upon and flatter the luxurious and proud. 

11 With eulogistic verse. 12 " Madding" is passive. 

13 In this couplet the grammatical connection is not close. Arrange the 
order of words so as to give the meaning. 



46 THOMAS GRAY. 

Along the cool sequestered vale of life ^ 75 

They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. 

Yet ev'n these bones from insult to protect 
Some frail memorial - still erected nigh, 

With uncouth^ rimes* and shapeless sculpture ^ decked, 
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh. 80 

Their name, their years, spelled by th' unlettered Muse,^ 

The place of fame and elegy supply ; 
And many a holy text around she strews, 

That teach '' the rustic moralist to die. 

For who, to dumb Forgetfulness a prey, 85 

This pleasing anxious being e'er resigned, 

Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day. 
Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind? ^ 

On some fond breast the parting ^ soul relies. 

Some pious drops ^^ the closing eye requires; 90 

Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries, 
Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires.^^ 

1 *' Cool sequestered vale of life " is antithetical. 

2 " Frail memoriai," a crumbling headstone. 

3 In the modern sense of awkward, 

* It is likely that Gray spelled it " rhymes," following the accepted bad 
spelling of the word. 

5 "Shapeless sculpture," inartistic carving. Cf. "storied urn" and 
" animated bust," line 41. 6 "Unlettered Muse," i.e., uncultured poet. 

'' " That teach," concord of sense rather than of form. 

8 This is a difficult stanza. Observe that there are two interpretations of 
the thought in the first two lines. Note the poetic artifices in the last line. 

» Cf. line I. 

10 " Pious drops " not of, buty^r, " the closing eye." 

11 "Ev'n from the tomb," etc., i.e., "The fires of former affectior are 
still alive beneath our ashes ; " " Even after the spark of life is quenched, the 
yearning for remembrance must still be felt." 



ELEGY. 47 

For thee,i who mindful of th' unhonored Dead 2 
Dost in these hnes their artless tale relate, 

If chance,^ by lonely contemplation led, 95 

Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate, 

Haply ^ some hoary-headed swain ^ may say, 
" Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn ^ 

Brushing with hasty steps the dews away 

To meet the sun upon the upland lawn. 100 

" There at the foot of yonder nodding beech. 
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,*^ 

His listless length at noontide would he stretch, 
And pore ^ upon the brook that babbles by. 

" Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,^ 105 

Mutt'ring his wayward fancies he would rove, 

Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn. 

Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love.^*^ 

" One morn I missed him on the customed ^i hill, 

Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree; 110 

Another 12 came ; nor yet beside the rill. 
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he ; 

1 The poet. 

2 "Unhonored Dead," " the rude Forefathers of the hamlet." 

3 Perchance. * Perhaps. 5 Here " rustic." 
6 " Peep of dawn." Cf. Milton's Lycidas, line 26: 

" Under the opening eyelids of the morn." 

'^ Lines loi, 102. Cf. As You Like It, ii. i : " Under an oak whose antique 
root peeps out." Note the false rime. 8 Look intently. 

9 " Smiling as in scorn." Why cannot this limit " wood "? 

10 After this stanza the original MS. had the following: 

" Him have we seen the greenwood side along, 

As o'er the heath we hied, our labor done ; 

Oft as the wood lark piped her farewell song, 

With wistful eyes, pursue the setting sun." 

11 Accustomed. 12 " Another " what? 



48 THOMAS GRAY. 

" The next with dirges due in sad array- 
Slow through the churchway path we saw him borne. 

Approach and read (for thou i canst read) the lay, 1 1 5 
Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn." 



THE EPITAPH. 

Here rests ^ his head up07i the lap of Earth 
A Youth, to Eortune a?td to Fame imktiown? 

Fair Science frowned'^ 7iot 07i his hwnble birth, 

And Melancholy ^narked him for her own. 1 20 

Large was his bounty,^ a?td his soul sincere^ 
Heav'71 did a reco77ipense as largely se7id; 

He gave to Misery all he had,' a tear. 

He gai7ied fro77i Heav'n ['twas all he wished) afrie7id. 

No farther seek his 7uerits to disclose, 125 

Or draw ^ his frailties fro77i their dread abode, 

{There they alike i7i tre77ibling hope repose^ 
The boso77i of his Father a7id his God.^ 

1 " For thou canst read. " Emphasis is on " thou." The " swain " could 
not read. 

2 What is subject of " rests "? What effect would be produced by putting 
a comma after " rests " and after " Earth "? 

3 Note the tender pathos of lines 117, 118. 

4 "Fair Science frowned." Note the antithesis, "fair," "frowned." 
How reconcile the apparent contradiction? Cf. stanzas 13, 16. 

5 Latin, bonitas. 

^ " Sincere " also is here used in its literal or Latin sense. 
"^ " All he had," an appositional phrase. 

8 " Draw," complementary infinitive, as " to disclose" is. 

9 This line is appositive. 



ODE ON THE DEATH OF A 
FAVORITE CAT/ 

DROWNED IN A TUB OF GOLDFISHES. 



'TwAS on a lofty vase's side, 
Where China's gayest art had dyed 

The azure flowers, that blow ; 
Demurest of the tabby kind, 
The pensive Selima, reclined, 5 

Gazed on the lake below. 

Her conscious tail her joy declared ; 
The fair round face, the snowy beard, 

The velvet of her paws, 
Her coat, that with the tortoise vies, 10 

Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes, 

She saw ; and purred applause. 

1 Gray, in a letter to Walpole, March i, 1747, says: " As one ought to 
be particularly careful to avoid blunders in a compliment of condolence, it 
would be a sensible satisfaction to me (before I testify my sorrow and the 
sincere part I take in your misfortune) to know for certain who it is I lament. 
I knew Zara and Selima (Selima, was it, or Fatima?) ; or rather I knew 
them both together, for I cannot justly say which was which. Then, as to your 
handsome Cat, the name you distinguish her by, I am no less at a loss, as 
well knowing one's handsome cat is always the cat one likes best ; or if one 
be alive and the other dead, it is usually the latter that is the handsomest. 
4 49 



50 THOMAS GRAY. 

Still had she gazed ; but 'midst the tide ^ 
Two angel ^ forms were seen to glide, 

The Genii ^ of the stream ; 1 5 

Their scaly armor's Tyrian hue 
Through richest purple ^ to the view 

Betrayed a golden gleam. 

The hapless nymph "* with wonder saw ; 

A whisker first and then a claw, 20 

With many an ardent wish, 
She stretched in vain to reach the prize. 
What female heart can gold despise?^ 

What Cat's averse to fish ? ^ 

Presumptuous maid! with looks intent '^ 25 

Again she stretched, again she bent, 

Nor knew the gulf between. 
(Malignant Fate sat by, and smiled) 
The slippery verge her feet beguiled. 

She tumbled headlong in. 30 

Besides, if the point were never so clear, I hope you do not think me so ill- 
bred or so imprudent as to forfeit all my interest in the survivor; oh, no! 
I would rather seem to mistake, and imagine to be sure it must be the tabby 
one that had met with this sad accident. Till this affair is a little better de- 
termined, you will excuse me if I do not begin to cry : 

' Tempus inane peto, requiem spatiumque doloris.' " 

The letter has a vein of pleasant, quiet humor oftener found in his prose, 
especially his letters, than in his poetry, which is generally of a serious nature. 

1 Note the word "tide" in the mock-heroic vein that characterizes the 
poem. 

2 Are the words "angel" and "Genii" consistent? Suggest another 
word for " angel." 

3 " Purple" explains " Tyrian " in line 16. What is the allusion? 
* Note the word " nymph." 

5 What is the tone of the line? To what does " gold " allude? 

6 In the edition of 1748, " a foe to fish? " 

■^ The edition of 1748 reads, " with eyes intent." Any reasons for the 
changes ? 



ODE ON THE DEA TH OF A FA VORITE CAT. 5 1 

Eight times ^ emerging from the flood 
She mewed to every wat'ry god 

Some speedy aid to send. 
No Dolphin came, no Nereid stirred ; ^ 
Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard. 35 

A fav'rite has no friend! 

From hence, ye Beauties, undeceived, 
Know, one false step is ne'er retrieved, 

And be with caution bold. 
Not all that tempts your wand'ring eyes 40 

And heedless hearts is lawful prize ; 

Nor all that ghsters, gold.^ 

1 What is the proverb alluded to? Point out the mock-heroic words used 
in this stanza. 

2 An allusion to the fable regarding the Greek poet Lesbos, who, being 
thrown into the sea by sailors, was carried safely to shore by dolphins 
enchanted with his lyre. Find allusion to same story in Milton's Lycidas. 

3 An old and favorite proverb. The modern word is "glitters." Cf. 
Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, ii. vii. 



52 THOMAS GRAY. 



ADVERTISEMENT. • 

" The author once had thoughts (in concert with a friend i) of giving the 
history of English Poetry. In the Introduction to it he meant to have pro- 
duced some specimens of the style that reigned in ancient times among the 
neighboring nations, or those who had subdued the greater part of this is- 
land, and were our progenitors ; the following three imitations made a part 
of them. He has long since dropped his design, especially after he heard 
that it was already in the hands of a person 2 well qualified to do it justice, 
both by his taste and his researches into antiquity " (Gray, 1768). 

PREFACE. 

" In the eleventh century, Sigurd, earl of the Orkney Islands, went with 
a fleet of ships and a considerable body of troops into Ireland, to the assistance 
of Sictryg with the silken beard, who was then making war on his father-in- 
law, Brian, king of Dublin. The earl and all his forces were cut to pieces, and 
Sictryg was in danger of a total defeat ; but the enemy had a greater loss by 
the death of Brian, their king, who fell in the action. On Christmas Day 
(the day of the battle) a native of Caithness in Scotland saw at a distance a 
number of persons on horseback, riding full speed toward a hill, and seem- 
ing to enter into it. Curiosity led him to follow them, till, looking through 
an opening in the rocks, he saw twelve gigantic figures resembling women. 
They were all employed about a loom ; and as they wove, they sung the 
following dreadful song ; which when they had finished, they tore the web into 
twelve pieces, and (each taking her portion) galloped six to the North, and 
as many to the South " (Gray, 1768). 

1 William Mason (i 724-1 797), one of Gray's most intimate friends. 

2 Thomas Warton ( 1 722-1800), the poet laureate. It is much to be re- 
gretted that Gray did not himself give up to the world something more in 
the romantic vein of this poem from his own extensive mine of antiquarian 
learning. 



THE FATAL SISTERS. 



AN ODE 

(from the NORSE TONGUE) 

In the Orcades of Thormodus Torf^eus ; Hafnle, 1697, 
FOLIO ; and also in Bartholinus. 

Now the storm begins to lower/ 
(Haste, the loom of Hell prepare,)^ 

Iron sleet of arrowy shower ^ 
Hurtles * in the darkened air. 

Glitt'ring lances are the loom, 5 

Where the dusky ^ warp we strain,^ 

1 " The Valkyrie were female divinities, servants of Odin (or Woden), 
in the Gothic mythology. Their name signifies ' choosers of the slain.' They 
were mounted on swift horses, with drawn swords in their hands ; and in the 
throng of battle selected such as were destined to slaughter, and conducted 
them to Vahalla, the hall of Odin, or paradise of the brave, where they at- 
tended the banquet, and served the departed heroes with horns of mead and 
ale" (Gray). 

2 Cf. The Bard, lines 49-52. 

3 Cf. Milton's Paradise Regained, iii. 323, 324 : 

" How quick they wheeled, and, flying, behind them shot 
Sharp sleet of arrowy showers against the face" (Gray). 

* Cf. Julius Csesar, ii. ii. : " The noise of battle hurtled in the air." 

5 A rather mild epithet, used in a moral sense. 

6 The warp is pulled taut, or strained, in the loom. 

53 



54 THOMAS GRAY. 

Weaving many a Soldier's doom, 
Orkney's woe, and Randver's bane. 

See the grisly ^ texture grow, 

('Tis of human entrails made,) lo 

And the weights that play below,^ 

Each a gasping warrior's head. 

Shafts ^ for shuttles, dipped in gore, 

Shoot the trembling cords along. 
Sword,^ that once a monarch bore, 1 5 

Keep the tissue close and strong. 

Mista,^ black, terrific maid, 

Sangrida,^ and Hilda,^ see, 
Join the wayward work^ to aid; 

'Tis the woof of victory. 20 

Ere the ruddy sun be set, 

Pikes must shiver, javelins sing,'' 
Blade with clattering buckler meet. 

Hauberk crash, and helmet ring. 

(Weave the crimson web of war)^ 25 

Let us go, and let us fly, 
Where our friends the conflict share. 

Where they triumph, where they die. 

1 Horrid. Cf. The Bard, line 44. 

2 This line carries on the metaphor of the loom. 

3 Spears. 

* The metaphor seems strained. 

5 " Mista" means black ; " Sangrida," terrific. " The names of the sis- 
ters, in the original, are Hilda, Hiorthrimol, Sangrida, and Swipol " (GossE). 
•^ Note the alliteration. Would " wicked " answer here for " wayward "? 
'^ What is the singing of a javelin? 
8 Cf. The Bard, line 49 : " Weave the warp, and weave the woof." 



THE FATAL SISTERS. 55 

As the paths of fate we tread, 

Wading through th' ensanguined field ; 30 

Gondula, and Geira, spread 

O'er the youthful King your shield. 

We the reins to slaughter give, 

Ours to kill, and ours to spare ; 
Spite of danger he shall live, 35 

(Weave the crimson web of war.) 

They whom once the desert beach 1 
Pent within its bleak domain, 
- Soon their ample sway shall stretch 2 

O'er the plenty of the plain. 40 

Low the dauntless Earl is laid. 

Gored with many a gaping wound ; 

Fate demands a nobler head ; 

Soon a King shall bite the ground. 

Long his loss shall Eirin weep, 45 

Ne'er again his likeness see ; 
Long her strains in sorrow steep, 

Strains of immortality! ^ 

Horror covers all the heath. 

Clouds of carnage * blot the sun. 50 

Sisters, weave the web of death ; 

Sisters, cease, the work is done. 

Hail the task, and hail the hands! 

Songs of joy and triumph sing 
Joy to the victorious bands ; 55 

Triumph to the younger King. 

1 " Beach," i.e., the edge or boundary separating the desert from the fertile 
plain. 2 Note the rime of " stretch" with " beach." 

3 Songs that will make his memory immortal. 
* " Clouds of carnage." Note the vigor of expression. 



56 THOMAS GRAY. 

Mortal,! thou that hear'st the tale, 

Learn the tenor of our song. 
Scotland, through each winding vale 

Far and wide the notes prolong. 60 

Sisters, hence with spurs of speed ; 

Each her thundering falchion wield, 
Each bestride her sable steed. 

Hurry, hurry to the field. 

1 The fatal sisters were iimnortal. 



ODE ON THE SPRING/ 



Lo! where the rosy-bosomed Hours,^ 

Fair Venus' train,^ appear, 
Disclose the long expecting flowers, 

And wake the purple * year ! 
The Attic warbler ^ pours her throat,*' 5 

Responsive to the cuckoo's note, 

The untaught harmony of spring ; 
While, whispering pleasure as they fly, 
Cool Zephyrs through the clear blue sky 

Their gathered fragrance fling. '^ 10 

Where'er the oak's thick branches stretch 

A broader browner shade, 
Where'er the rude and moss-grown beech 

1 The original title of this ode was Noontide : An Ode. It was written in 
1742, and published some years later in the Dodsley collection, under the 
simple title of Ode. 

2 The Horae, or " Hours," in mythology, were goddesses presiding over 
the course of the seasons, who caused all things to blossom and ripen at the 
proper time. They were represented as adorned with flowers and fruits. 

3 The Horse were often associated with other divinities, as Venus, Apollo, 
etc. 4 " Purple" in poetry very often signifies " magnificent." 

5 " Attic warbler," the nightingale. There is a legend that Philomela, 
daughter of an Attic king, was changed into a nightingale. (This word is 
properly " nightigale," the n being intrusive. Give some other examples 
of the intrusive n.) 6 " Pours her throat." What is the figure? 

"^ Note the alliteration. 

57 



5 8 THOMAS GRAY. 

O'ercanopies the glade,i 
Beside some water's rushy brink 15 

With me the Muse shall sit, and think 

(At ease reclined in rustic state) 
How vain the ardor of the crowd, 
How low, how little are the proud, 

How indigent the great! 20 

Still is the toiling hand of Care ; 

The panting herds repose ; 
Yet hark, how through the peopled air 2 

The busy murmur glows !^ 
The insect youth are on the wing, 25 

Eager to taste the honeyed spring, 

And float amid the liquid noon ;* 
Some lightly o'er the current skim. 
Some show their gaily-gilded trim^ 

Quick-glancing to the sun.^ 30 

To Contemplation's sober eye '^ 
Such is the race of Man ; 

1 Cf. Midsummer-Night's Dream, ii. ii. : 

" A bank . . . 
Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine " (Gray). 

2 " Peopled air," i.e., air alive with insect life. Pope has" peopled grass." 

3 Cf. Wordsworth's The Excursion, Book I. : 

"... This multitude of flies 
Is filling all the air with melody." 

4 Cf. Vergil's Georgics, IV. 59: " Nare per restatem liquia.fL'11 " (Gray). 

5 Cf. Milton's Comus, line 299. 

6 Cf. Milton's Paradise Lost, vii. lines 405, 406: 

"... sporting with quick glance, 
Show to the sun their waved coats dropped with gold " (Gray). 

'^ Cf. Green's The Grotto, Dodsley's Miscellanies, v. 161 : " While insects 
from the threshold preach " (Gray). 

In a letter to Walpole, Gray acknowledges that the thought on which this 



ODE ON THE SPRING. 59 

And they that creep, and they that fly, 

Shall end where they began. 
Alike the Busy and the Gay 35 

But flutter through life's little day, 

In fortune's varying colors dressed ; 
Brushed by the hand of rough Mischance, 
Or chilled by age, their airy dance 

They leave, in dust to rest. 40 

Methinks I hear in accents low 

The sportive kind ^ reply : 
Poor moralist! and what art thou? 

A solitary fly ! 
Thy joys no glittering female meets, 45 

No hive hast thou of hoarded sweets. 

No painted plumage to display ;2 
On hasty wings thy youth is flown ; 
Thy sun is set, thy spring is gone — 

We frohc, while 'tis May.^ • 50 

ode turns " is manifestly stole " from Green's The Grotto. The acknowledg- 
ment is made " that I may do justice." It seems, however, to have been a 
case of " unconscious plagiarism." 

1 The gay and thoughtless. See line 35. 

2 Note the metaphor in lines 4b, 47, and point out the similitude. 

3 The springtime of life. 



HYMN TO ADVERSITY/ 



Daughter of Jove,- relentless Power, 

Thou Tamer of the human breast. 
Whose iron scourge and torturing hour 

The bad affright, afflict the best!^ 
Bound in thy adamantine chain '^ 5 

The proud are taught to taste of pain, 
And purple tyrants ^ vainly groan 
With pangs unfelt before, unpitied and alone. 

When first thy Sire to send on earth 

Virtue, his darling child, designed, 10 

To thee he gave the heavenly birth,^ 

And bade to form her infant mind."^ 

1 The first edition of this poem was preceded by a motto from the Greek 
of yEschylus, which describes affliction as being sent by Jove for the ultimate 
good of man. 

2 Ate, originally goddess of infatuation or reckless crime. Later she was 
regarded as the avenger of unrighteousness ; but there seems to be no author- 
ity for considering her the goddess of adversity. 

3 The " scourge " affrights ; the " hour " afflicts. 

* Cf. Milton's Paradise Lost, i. 48: "In adamantine chains and penal 
fire." 

5 " Purple tyrants." Purple is the regal color. Perhaps it suggests 
"bloody." 6 Virtue. 

■^ The idea in lines 9-12 is a favorite with moralists. Cf. " Whom the 
Lord loveth he chasteneth " (Heb. xii. 6). 

60 



HYMN TO ADVERSITY. 6i 

Stern rugged Nurse! thy rigid lore 
With patience many a year she bore ; 
What sorrow was, thou hadst her know, 1 5 

And from her own she learned to melt at others* woe. 

Scared at thy frown terrific, fly 

Self-pleasing Folly's idle brood, ^ 
Wild Laughter, Noise, and thoughtless Joy, 

And leave us leisure to be good.'^ 20 

Light they disperse, and with them go 
The summer friend, the flattering foe;^ 
By vain Prosperity* received. 
To her they ^ vow their truth, and are again believed. 

Wisdopi in sable garb ^ arrayed, 25 

Immersed in rapturous thought profound. 

And Melancholy, silent maid "^ 

With leaden eye, that loves the ground. 

Still on thy solemn steps attend ; 

Warm Charity, the general friend, 30 

With justice to herself severe. 
And Pity, dropping soft the sadly pleasing tear.^ 

1 Cf. Milton's II Penseroso, lines i, 2 : 

" Hence, vain, deluding joys, 
The brood of Folly, without father bred!" 

2 Is sloth conducive to virtue? 

3 What is the idea? Note the alliteration. Cf. The Bard, lines 69, 70. 

4 " Vain Prosperity." Bacon says : " Prosperity doth best discover vice " 
(Essay on Adversity). 5 What is the antecedent of " they"? 

6 Gray has also " the sable garb of woe." (Cf. The Bard, line 17.) Point 
out the distinction in meaning. 

7 Cf. Collins's Ode to the Passions, lines 56, 57: 

" With eyes upraised, as one inspired, 
Pale Melancholy sat retired." 
Also Milton's II Penseroso, line 43 : " With a sad, leaden, downward cast." 
8 Cf. The Bard, line 129 : " Pale Grief, axid pleasing Pain. Also The Prog- 
ress of Poesy, line 94, " sympathetic Tears." 



62 THOMAS GRAY. 

Oh, gently on thy suppliant's head, 

Dread Goddess, lay thy chastening hand! 
Not in thy Gorgon terrors ^ clad, 35 

Not circled with the vengeful band 
(As by the impious thou art seen), 
With thundering voice, and threat'ning mien. 
With screaming Horror's funeral cry, 
Despair, and fell Disease, and ghastly Poverty. 40 

Thy form benign, O Goddess,- wear. 

Thy milder influence impart. 
Thy philosophic train be there 

To soften, not to wound my heart,^ 
The generous spark extinct revive, 45 

Teach me to love and to forgive. 
Exact ^ my own defects to scan. 
What others are,^ to feel, and know myself a Man. 

1 Cf. Milton's Paradise Lost, ii. 611 : " Medusa with Gorgonian terror." 
Also Comus, line 447: " Snaky-headed Gorgon shield." 

2 " Goddess," Ate. See line i. 

3 " Thy milder influence," etc. As " the mind is its own place" (Para- 
dise Lost, I. line 254), one may make the " uses of adversity sweet." 

4 Compel me. 

5 What is the grammatical relation of the clause, " What others are "? 



ODE ON THE PLEASURE ARISING 
FROM VICISSITUDE.^ 



A FRAGMENT. 



Now the golden Morn aloft 

Waves her dew-bespangled wing, 
With vermeil cheek and whisper soft 

She wooes the tardy spring ;- 
Till April starts, and calls around 5 

The sleeping fragrance from the ground ; 
And lightly o'er the living scene 
Scatters his freshest, tenderest green. 

Newborn flocks, in rustic dance. 

Frisking ply their feeble feet; 10 

Forgetful of their wintry trance, 

The birds his ^ presence greet ; 

1 A posthumous poem, written by Gray probably in I754» ^^^ ^^^^ unfin- 
ished. " I have heard Gray say that Gresset's fipitre a ma Soeur gave him 
the first idea of this ode, and whoever compares it with the French poem will 
find some slight traits of resemblance " (Mason). 

2 Are the metaphors in lines 1-4 mixed? 
2 What is the antecedent of " his "? 

63 



64 THOMAS GRAY. 

But chief, the Skylark warbles high 

His trembling thrilling ecstasy, 

And, lessening from the dazzled sight, 15 

Melts into air and liquid light. 

Rise, my soul! on wings of fire,^ 

Rise the rapturous choir among ; 
Hark! 'tis Nature strikes the lyre,- 

And leads the general song: 20 

4: * * * * 

Yesterday the sullen ^ year 

Saw the snowy whirlwind fly ; 
Mute was the music of the air,* 

The Herd stood drooping by ; 
Their raptures now that worldly flow,^ 25 

No yesterday, nor morrow know ; 
'Tis man alone that Joy descries^ 
With forward and reverted eyes.'^ 

Smiles on past Misfortune's brow 

Soft Reflection's hand can trace ; 30 

And o'er the cheek of Sorrow throw 

A melancholy grace ; 
While Hope prolongs our happier hour, 
Or deepest shades, that dimly lower 
And blacken round our weary way, 35 

Gilds with a gleam of distant day.^ 

1 " Wings of fire," a very extravagant metaphor. 

2 What is Nature's lyre? 3 Gloomy; dismal. 

4 Note the alliteration. 5 An obscure line. 6 Shows ; reveals. 

"^ Looking forward to the future, and backward on the past. 
8 Lines 33-36. Cf. Pope's Essay on Man, L lines 95, 96: 
" Hope springs eternal in the human breast: 
Man never is, but always to be blest." 
Also Essay on Man, H. lines 283, 284: ' 

" Meanwhile opinion gilds with varying rays 
Those painted clouds that beautify our days." 



ODE ON VICISSITUDE. 65 

Still, where rosy Pleasure leads, 

See a kindred Grief pursue ; 
Behind the steps that Misery treads, 

Approaching Comfort view ; 40 

The hues of Bliss more brightly glow, 
Chastised by sabler tints of woe ; 
And blended form, with artful strife, ' 

The strength and harmony of Life.i 

See the Wretch, that long has tossed 45 

On the thorny bed of Pain, 
At length repair his vigor lost. 

And breathe and walk again ; — 
The meanest flow'ret of the vale. 
The simplest note that swells the gale, 50 

The common sun, the air, the skies, 
To him are opening Paradise. ^ 

Humble Quiet builds her cell 

Near the source whence Pleasure flows ; 

She eyes the clear crystalline well, 55 

And tastes it as it goes,^ 

1 Lines 43, 44. Cf. Pope's Essay on Man, 11. lines 121, 122: 

" The lights and shades whose well-accorded strife 
Gives all the strength and color of our life." 

2 Lines 48-52. Wordsworth, in his Ode on Intimations of Immortality, 
says : 

" To me the meanest flower that blows can give 
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." 

3 The remainder of the poem is fragmentary. 



THE DESCENT OF ODIN.' 



Up rose the King of Men with speed, 

And saddled straight his coal-black steed ; 

Down the yawning steep he rode, 

That leads to Hela's drear abode. - 

Him the Dog of Darkness spied, 5 

His shaggy throat he opened wide, 

While from his jaws, with carnage filled, 

Foam and human gore distilled ; 

Hoarse he bays with hideous din, 

Eyes that glow, and fangs that grin ; 10 

And long pursues, with fruitless yell, 

The father of the powerful spell. 

Onward still his way he takes, 

(The groaning earth beneath him shakes,) 

Till full before his fearless eyes 15 

The portals nine of hell ^ arise. 

1 " The Descent of Odin, written at Cambridge in 1761, first appeared in 
the volume of 1768. It is a paraphrase of the ancient Icelandic lay called 
Vegtams Kvida, and sometimes Baldrs Draumar. The best edition of the 
original is that given in the Corpus Poeticum Boreale, vol. i., p. 181, under 
the heading Balder's Doom " (GossE). 

2 " Niflheimr the hell of the Gothic nations, consisted of nine worlds, to 
which were devoted all such as died of sickness, old age, or by any other 
means than in battle. Over it presided Hela, the goddess of death " (Gray). 

3 " Portals nine of hell." Cf. Milton's Paradise Lost, II. lines 645, 646: 

"... three folds were brass, 
Three iron, three of adamantine rock." 
66 



THE DESCENT OE ODIN. 67 

Right against the eastern gate, 
By the moss-grown pile he sate ; 
Where long of yore to sleep was laid 
The dust of the prophetic Maid.^ 20 

Facing to the northern clime, 
Thrice he traced the runic rime ; 
Thrice pronounced, in accents dread, 
The thrilling verse '^ that wakes the dead : 
Till from out the hollow ground 25 

Slowly breathed a sullen sound. 

Pr. What call unknown, what charms presume 
To break the quiet of the tomb? 
Who thus afflicts my troubled sprite,-^ 
And drags me from the realms of night? ^ 30 

Long on these mold'ring bones have beat 
The winter's snow, the summer's heat. 
The drenching dews, and driving rain!^ 
Let me, let me sleep again. 

Who is he, with voice unblessed, 35 

That calls me from the bed of rest ? 

O. A Traveler, to thee unknown, 
Is he that calls, a Warrior's son. 
Thou the deeds of light ^ shalt know ; 
Tell me what is done below,*^ 40 

For whom yon glitt'ring board is spread. 
Dressed for whom yon golden bed. 

1 " Prophetic Maid," i.e., Hela. 

2 " The original word is valgalldr; from valr, ' mortuus,' and galldr, 
' incantatio'" (Gray, MS.). 3 " Sprite," i.e., spirit. 

* A prophet properly dwells in the realm of darkness. 

5 Lines 30-33 show the Norse idea of hell, which was very materialistic. 

6 " Deeds of light," i.e., things done in the upper world. 

"^ " Odin, we find, both from this ode and the Edda, was solicitous about 
the fate of his son Balder, who had dreamed he was soon to die. The Edda 
mentions the manner of his death when killed by Odin's other son Hoder, and 



68 THOMAS GRAY. 

Pr. Mantling in the goblet see 
The pure bev'rage of the bee, 

O'er it hangs the shield of gold ; 45 

'Tis the drink of Balder bold ; 
Balder's head to death is giv'n. 
Pain can reach the sons of Heav'n! 
Unwilling I my lips unclose : 
Leave me, leave me to repose. 50 

O. Once again my call obey ; 
Prophetess, arise, and say, 
What dangers Odin's child await, 
Who the Author of his fate. 

Pr. In Hoder's hand the Hero's doom: 55 

His brother sends him to the tomb. 
Now my weary lips I close ; 
Leave me, leave me to repose. 

O. Prophetess, my spell obey ; 
Once again arise, and say, 60 

Who th' Avenger of his guilt. 
By whom shall Hoder's blood be spilled? 

Pr. In the caverns of the west, 
By Odin's fierce embrace compressed, 
A wond'rous Boy shall Rinda bear, 65 

Who ne'er shall comb his raven hair, 
Nor wash his visage in the stream. 
Nor see the sun's departing beam. 
Till he on Hoder's corse shall smile 
Flaming on the fun'ral pile. 70 

also that Hoder was himself slain by Vali, the son of Odin and Rinda, con- 
sonant with this prophecy " (Mason). (See Matthew Arnold's Balder Dead.) 
What event in nature does this myth typify? 



THE DESCENT OF ODIN. 69 

Now my weary lips I close ; 
Leave me, leave me to repose. 

O. Yet awhile my call obey ; 
Prophetess, awake, and say, 

What Virgins these, in speechless woe, 75 

That bend to earth their solemn brow. 
That their flaxen tresses tear, ^ 
And snowy veils, that float in air. 
Tell me, whence their sorrows rose ; 
Then I leave thee to repose. 80 

Pr. Ha! no Traveler art thou, 
King of Men, I know thee now ; 
Mightiest of a mighty line — 

O. No boding Maid of skill divine 
Art thou, nor Prophetess of good ; 85 

But Mother of the giant brood! 

Pr. Hie thee hence, and boast at home. 
That never shall Inquirer come 
To break my iron sleep again ; 

Till Lok 1 has burst his tenfold chain ; 90 

Never, till substantial Night 
Has reassumed her ancient right ; 
Till wrapped in flames, in ruin hurled. 
Sinks the fabric of the world. 

1 " Lok is the evil Being who continues in chains till the Twilight of the 
Gods approaches. When he shall break his bonds, the human race, the stars 
and sun shall disappear, the earth sink in the seas, and fire consume the skies. 
Even Odin himself and his kindred deities shall perish. For a further ex- 
planation of this mythology, see Mallet's Introduction to the History of Den- 
mark, 1755, quarto" (Gray). 



70 THOMAS GRAY. 



COMMENTARY ON "THE ALLIANCE OF EDUCATION 
AND GOVERNMENT." 

This poem will be made clearer to the student by the following commen- 
tary taken from William Mason's edition of the works of Gray : 

" The author's subject being (as we have seen) The necessary Alliance be- 
tween a good Form of GovernnieJtt and a good Mode of Education, in order to pro- 
diice the Happiness of MaiWtind, the poem opens with two similes ; an uncom- 
mon kind of exordium ; but which, I suppose, the poet intentionally chose, 
to intimate the analogical method he meant to pursue in his subsequent rea- 
sonings. First, he asserts tliat men without education are like sickly plants 
in a cold or barren soil (lines i to 4, and 9 to 12) ; and, secondly, he compares 
them, when unblessed with a just and well-regulated government, to plants that 
will not blossom or bear fruit in an unkindly and inclement air (lines 5 to 
8, and 13 to 21). Having thus laid down the two propositions he means 
to prove, he begins by examining into the characteristics which (taking a 
general view of mankind) all men have in common one with another (lines 
22 to 37) : they covet pleasure and avoid pain (line 31) ; they feel gratitude 
for benefits (line 34) ; they desire to avenge wrongs, which they effect either 
by force or cunning (line 35) ; they are linked to each other by their common 
feelings, and participate in sorrow and in joy (lines 36, 37). If, then, all the 
human species agree in so many moral particulars, whence arises the diver- 
sity of national characters? This question the poet puts at line t^^, and di- 
lates upon it to line 63. Why, says he, have some nations shown a {propen- 
sity to commerce and industry ; others to war and rapine ; others to ease and 
pleasure (lines 40 to 45)? Why have the Northern people overspread in 
all ages, and prevailed over the Southern (lines 46 to 57)? Why has Asia 
been, time out of mind, the seat of despotism, and Europe that of freedom 
(lines 58 to 63)? Are we from these instances to imagine men necessarily 
enslaved to the inconveniences of the climate where they were born (lines 
64 to 71)? Or are we not rather to suppose there is a natural strength in 
the human mind that is able to vanquish and break through them (lines 
72 to ^2>)^ It is confessed, however, that men receive an early tincture from 
the situation they are placed in and the climate which produces them (lines 
84 to 87). Thus the inhabitants of the mountains, inured to labor and pa- 
tience, are naturally trained to war (lines 88 to 95) ; while those of the plain 
are more open to any attack, and softened by ease and plenty (lines 96 to 99). 
Again, the Egyptians, from the nature of their situation, might be the in- 
ventors of home navigation, from a necessity of keeping up an intercourse 
between their towns during the inundation of the Nile (lines 100 et seq.)." 



THE ALLIANCE OF EDUCATION 
AND GOVERNMENT, 



A FKAGMEXT,^ 

A\ '/.ry.y plants r^etray a nfggar'! earth. 

Whos^ ?jarreri - 'x.'^Arn ^.^arves r.er i'er.ero':;s V.rtiTi, 

Nor geriial warm'h, r.or ge-fal juice reta:r.s 

Their roots to feed, ar, I r//. tr.efr verdar.: veins; 

And as in dimes, where Winter holds his refgn, 5 

The soil, though fertile, will not teem m va^m^ 

Fprbids her gems * to swell, her shades* to rise, 

Xor trusts her blossoms to the chttil»h sides, 

1 A posthuvcions pcem, "Trily z^oem was written m Aagctst, 174S, at 
Ca»l)ridge. WMIe it was being composed, MoBtes<ittiett s L'Eaprit des Lois 
fen into Gray's hands, and he* twm treatment of the llsemc tecaae dis- 
ta:Uefal to hinu Some years later he tEoa^t of taking it Bf> agjan, and was 
about to compose a prefatory ode to >L de Mooteaqoiea, wlico that writer 
died, on tlie locli of Yth-Tzzr-r. r-rr, sncf tfe w!ic!e thing: was abaodoned" 

(GOSSE). 

" Instead of -,--;,-:;-. : -/■.-■-■:: -.■■:- - -hy dirf 

not ^fr. G'iv -,-• —: pv-^- -.:--- - -•^- :--: ;..:?Oem 

c.' .h an exqttisite specimen? " (Gibbo:*.) 

- Gray f.rst wrote • flinty" bosom, bat changed it to " barren." 

s Buds. * Trees. 

71 



72 THOMAS GRAY. 

So draw mankind in vain the vital airs, 

Unformed, unfriended, by those kindly cares,^ lo 

That health and vigor to the soul impart, 

Spread the young thought, and warm the opening heart. ^ 

So fond^ Instruction on the growing powers 

Of Nature idly lavishes her stores. 

If equal Justice with unclouded face * 15 

Smile not indulgent on the rising race. 

And scatter with a free, though frugal, hand 

Light golden showers of plenty o'er the land. 

But Tyranny has ^ fixed her empire there, 

To check their tender hopes with chiUing fear, 20 

And blast the blooming ^ promise of the year. 

This spacious animated scene survey 
From where the rolling orb," that gives the day, 
His sable sons ^ with nearer course surrounds 
To either pole, and life's remotest bounds, 25 

How rude soe'er th' exterior form we find, 
Howe'er Opinion tinge the varied mind. 
Alike to all the kind ^ impartial Heav'n 
The sparks of truth and happiness has given. 
With sense to feel, with mem'ry to retain, 30 

They follow pleasure, and they fly from pain ; 
Their judgment mends the plan their fancy draws, 
Th' event presages, and explores the cause. 

1 Note the inversion. 

2 Note that the poem opens with two similes. 

3 Vain ; foolish. 

4 " Unclouded face." Cf. " churlish skies," line 8. 

5 Gray first wrote this : 

" But gloomy Sway have fixed her empire there." 

6 The first writing read " vernal " promise. 

'^ " The rolling orb," i.e., the sun (poetic license). 

8 " Sable sons," i.e., the planets, which shine not of their own light. 

3 " Kind " is a substantive. 



EDUCATION AND GOVERNMENT. 73 

The soft returns of gratitude they know, 

By fraud elude, by force repel the foe, 35 

While mutual 1 wishes, mutual woes endear 

The social smile, the sympathetic tear. 

Say then, through ages by what fate confined 
To different climes seem different souls assigned ? 2 
Here measured laws and philosophic ease ^ 40 

Fix and improve the polished arts of peace : 
There Industry and Gain their vigils keep. 
Command the winds, and tame th' unwilling deep. 
Here Force and hardy deeds of blood prevail : 
There languid Pleasure sighs in every gale.* 45 

Oft o'er the trembling nations from afar 
Has Scythia^ breathed the living cloud of war;^ 
And where the deluge burst, with sweepy sway 
Their arms, their kings, their gods were rolled away. 
As oft have issued, host impelling host, 50 

The blue-eyed myriads from the Baltic coast. 
The prostrate South to the destroyer yields 
Her boasted titles and her golden fields ; 
With grim delight the brood of Winter'^ view 
A brighter day, and heavens^ of azure hue ; 55 

Scent ^ the new ^^ fragrance of the breathing 11 rose, 
And quaff the pendent vintage ^^ as it grows. 

1 " Mutual " is here misused as meaning " common." 

2 The line suggests that men, as to their manners, morals, temperaments, 
etc., are subject to climatic influences. 

3 " Philosophic ease." Cf. Pope's Essay on Man, II. line 188. 

4 Note the antitheses in lines 40-45. 

5 " Scythia," the i definite area lying north of the Baltic Sea and probably 
extending into Asia. The vScythians were Aryans, with a Mongol admixture. 

6 " Living cloud of war," an expressive metaphor. " Living," i.e., moving. 
'7 " Brood of Winter," i.e., tribes from the wintry North. 

^ First writing read " skies." ^ First writing read "Catch." 

10 " New " to them. H " Breathing," i.e., exhaling fragrance. 

12 " Pendent vintage," i.e., grapes. 



74 THOMAS GRAY. 

Proud of the yoke, and pliant to the rod, 

Why yet does Asia dread a monarch's nod, 

While European freedom still withstands 60 

Th' encroaching tide,i that drowns her lessening lands,^ 

And sees far off with an indignant groan. 

Her native plains, and empires once her own? 

Can opener skies, and suns of fiercer flame,^ 

O'erpower the fire that animates our frame ; 65 

As lamps, that shed at eve a cheerful ray, 

Fade and expire beneath the eye of day? * 

Need we the influence of the northern star^ 

To string our nerves and steel our hearts to war? 

And, where the face of nature laughs^ around, 70 

Must sick'ning virtue'^ fly the tainted^ ground? 

Unmanly thought! what seasons^ can control, 

What fancied zone ^^ can circumscribe the soul. 

Who, conscious of the source from whence she springs. 

By Reason's light on Resolution's wings,^i 75 

Spite of her frail companion 12 dauntless goes 

O'er Libya's ^3 deserts and through Zembla's^'* snows? 

She bids each slumb'ring energy awake, 

Another touch, another temper take, 

1 " Encroaching tide " of despotism. 

2 " Lessening lands," i.e., narrowing extent of territory. 
" Suns of fiercer flame," i.e., tropical heat. 

4 " Eye of day," i.e., the sun. 

5 " Northern star," rigorous climate of the north. 

^ " Where the face of nature laughs," i.e., where the climate is genial. 

"^ " Virtue," valor. 

^ "Tainted" with cowardice. 

9 Climatic conditions. 

10 Temperature ; literally, a belt of the earth. 

11 Note the force and beauty of the metaphors in line 75. 

12 " Frail companion," i.e., the weak body. 

13 " Libya," i.e., Africa. 

1* "Zembla," i.e., Nova Zembla, a double island in the Arctic Ocean, 
north of Russia. 



EDUCATION AND GOVERNMENT. 75 

Suspends th' inferior laws ^ that rule our clay -p- 80 

The stubborn elements ^ confess her sway, 
Their little wants, their low desires refine, 
And raise the mortal to a height divine. 

Not but the human fabric from the birth 
Imbibes a flavor of its parent earth, 85 

As various tracts enforce a various toil, 
The manners speak the idiom of their soil. 
An iron-race* the mountain cliffs maintain, ' 
Foes to the gentler genius of the plain; 
For where unwearied sinews must be found 90 

With sidelong plow to quell the flinty ground. 
To turn the torrent's swift-descending flood, 
To brave the savage, rushing from the wood. 
What wonder, if to patient valor trained 
They guard with spirit what by strength they gained? 95 
And while their rocky ramparts round they see. 
The rough abode of want and liberty 
(As lawless force from confidence will grow), 
Insult the plenty of the vales below? 
What wonder in the sultry climes, that spread 1 00 

Where Nile redundant ^ o'er his summer bed 
From his broad bosom life and verdure flings 
And broods o'er Egypt with his wat'ry wings. 
If with advent'rous oar and ready sail 
The dusky people drive before the gale; 105 

Or on frail floats to distant cities ride. 
That rise and glitter o'er the ambient tide? ^ 

1 " Inferior laws," i.e., the lower or baser passions. 

2 " Clay," i.e., the body. 3 " Stubborn elements." See Note i. 
* "An iron-race." Mountaineers, compelled by necessity to patient la- 
bor, are naturally trained to war. 

5 " Nile redundant" alludes to the spring floods of that river. 

6 Note that line 107 ends with the sentence or thought incomplete. 



STANZAS TO MR. RICHARD 
BENTLEY/ 



In silent gaze the tuneful choir among, 

Half pleased, half blushing, let the Muse admire, 

While Bentley leads her sister art along, 
And bids the pencil answer to the lyre. 

See, in their course, each transitory thought 5 

Fixed by his touch a lasting essence take; 2 

Each dream, in fancy's airy coloring wrought, 
To local symmetry and life awake ! 

The tardy rimes that used to linger on. 

To censure cold, and neghgent of fame, 10 

In swifter measures animated run. 

And catch a luster from his genuine flame. ^ 

Ah! could they* catch his strength, his easy grace, 
His quick creation,^ his unerring line ; 

1 A posthumous poem. " These lines -were written in 1752 as a compli- 
ment to Bentley for drawing the designs for the Six Poems of 1 753. Unfor- 
tunately the sole existing MS. had the corner of the last stanza torn off when 
Mason found it " (Gosse). 

2 Note the delicate compliment in this line and the two following. 

3 " Genuine flame," i.e., true inspiration, the " divine afflatus." 
^ " They," i.e., his " tardy rimes." See line 9. 

5 " Quick creation," i.e., lively fancy. 

76 



STANZAS TO MR. RICHARD BENTLEY. 77 

The energy of Pope they might efface, 15 

And Dryden's harmony submit to mine.^ 

But not to one in this benighted age 

Is that diviner inspiration giv'n, 
That burns in Shakespeare's or in Milton's page, 

The pomp and prodigaHty of heav'n.^ 20 

As when conspiring in the diamond's blaze,^ 
The meaner gems,* that singly charm the sight, 

Together dart their intermingled rays, 
And dazzle with a luxury of Hght. 



1 In Gray's estimation, there could have been no greater poetic glory. 

2 Note the strength of this line, 

2 " The diamond's blaze " implied simile or similes. 

4 " The meaner gems." Explain the metaphor. 



SONNET 

ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD WEST.i 



In vain to me the smiling - Mornings shine, 

And reddening ^ Phoebus hfts his golden fire : 
The birds in vain their amorous descant join ; 

Or cheerful fields resume their green attire : 
These ears, alas! for other notes repine/ 5 

A different object do these eyes require : 
My lonely anguish melts no heart but mine ; ^ 

And in my breast the imperfect joys expire. 
Yet Morning smiles ^ the busy race to cheer, 

1 A posthumous poem. "The MS. of this sonnet exists at Pembroke 
College. At the close Gray has written: 'At Stoke, August, 1742'" 
(Gosse). 

Richard West was a son of that Richard West who was lord chancellor 
of Ireland, and a grandson of the famous Bishop Gilbert Burnet. He was 
one of the " quadruple alliance " of which the others were Gray, Walpole, and 
Thomas Ashton. Their friendship was very close. West had " a first row 
in the front box of my [Gray's] heart." He (West) was a poet of merit. 
His Ode to May has in it passages that would not discredit the later style of 
Gray himself. He died June i, 1742, in his twenty-sixth year. 

2 What sort of an epithet? 

3 Why the progressive form? 

* " Join " frequently rimes with words terminating in ine. It seems that 
the word was often pronounced y/«^. 
5 " Morning smiles." See line i. 

78 



ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD WEST. 79 

And newborn pleasure brings to happier men: 10 

The fields to all their wonted tribute bear ; 

To warm their little loves the birds complain : 
I fruitless mourn to him that cannot hear, 

And weep the more because I weep in vain.^ 

1 A Stoic said to one who mourned for his dead son : " Why do you weep? 
You cannot bring him back." " 'Tis for that cause," said the father, " that 
I weep." 



SKETCH OF HIS OWN CHAR- 
ACTER, 

WRITTEN IN 1761, AND FOUND IN ONE OF 
HIS POCKETBOOKS. 



Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune, 

He had not the method of making a fortune ; 

Could love, and could hate, so was thought somewhat odd ; 

No very great wit, he believed in a God ; 

A place 1 or a pension he did not desire, 5 

But left church and state to Charles Townshend 2 and Squire.^ 

1 It will be remembered that Gray refused the " place " of poet laureate. 

2 Right Honorable Charles Townshend (i 725-1 767), English orator and 
statesman. 

3 " At that time fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and afterwards 
bishop of St, David's. Dr. Squire died in 1766. Bishop War burton one day 
met Dean Tucker, who said that he hoped his lordship liked his situation 
at Gloucester ; on which the sarcastic bishop replied that never bishopric 
was so bedeaned, for that his predecessor Dr. Squire had made religion his 
trade, and that he (Dr. Tucker) had made trade his religion " (Mitford). 



80 



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